


Fancy Clothes, Confusing Feelings and New Friends

by TrilliumWoods



Category: The Nightmare Before Christmas (1993)
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-06-14
Updated: 2017-06-13
Packaged: 2018-11-13 14:59:39
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 30,770
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11187549
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TrilliumWoods/pseuds/TrilliumWoods
Summary: Sorry about the stupid title.Its Jack and Sally’s 10th anniversary and the whole town is celebrating with a grand ball, including Lock, Shock and Barrel, who are now 17, 18 and 16 years old respectively.  It's a unique night for them and it triggers some changes in Lock and Shock's relationship that are a little confusing for them, and introduces a new relationship for Barrel that is quite exciting for him.  Lock/Shock and Barrel/OC.





	1. Introduction

 This story is a little bit of an experiment for me.  I wanted to write the same ball from Lock, Shock and Barrel’s different points of view, their different experiences of and perspectives on the same event.  So there is some overlapping in places, although they do have unique individual experiences apart from one another as well.  

They each have their own chapters.  I put them in order of how their names are usually said, but they can be read in any order.

Lock/Shock and Barrel/OC, with minor appearances from other minor characters.  I had a lot of fun writing it, and I hope you enjoy reading it.  :)


	2. Lock

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Lock is really not thrilled about attending some fancy, stupid, boring dance party.

Lock sat on the ratty old sofa with his arms crossed, flicking his tail impatiently.  Shock was taking forever to get ready and he wondered if she’d actually drowned in the tub or something.  It wasn’t that he was actually looking forward to going to this dumb anniversary ball - he just hated waiting for anything or anyone.  Barrel was standing in front of the cracked living room mirror like an idiot, fussing with his clothes and repeatedly checking his hair.  “Geez, Barrel, you’re acting like a girl over there, primping in front of the mirror like Miss Halloween Town or something.” Lock grumbled at him.  “And you’re _way_ too stupid-looking for that, so give it up already.  Who cares how you look?”

“I care.” Barrel said.  “Just because _you_ don’t care doesn’t mean nobody else is allowed to.”  

Lock scoffed at him, but Barrel just went back to his inspection.  The two of them were driving Lock crazy and he was about three seconds away from yelling up the stairs at Shock to hurry the hell up when she finally entered the room.  He turned to look at her and couldn’t help but stare: he’d never seen her dressed up so fancily and it was rather startling.  Her dress was elegant rather than girly, just shimmery black with a hint of purple in it and with a low neckline that showed off her neck and shoulders.  The bodice was fitted to her torso and the long skirt puffed out a little bit at where it was attached to the bodice, emphasizing her slender waist.  She wasn’t wearing any jewelry, but she’d curled her hair and was holding some of it back with a satiny black ribbon.  Lock felt his jaw drop a little, then he quickly shut his mouth again.

“Wow, Shock, you look really nice!  I like your dress!” Barrel exclaimed with a wide grin, turning away from the mirror.  

“Thanks!” said Shock, and she gave a little twirl.  “Sally made it for me, I told her I didn’t want anything frilly or too girly.  I think she did a good job, I like how it turned out.  You clean up pretty well, yourself!” she said, and Barrel smiled happily and adjusted his tie.  

“You think so?  I wasn’t sure about the tie, I thought maybe it was a little too much.”  He was wearing black slacks, a dark blue-green dress shirt and even had a black jacket on, but his feet were bare, as always.

“Nah, you look great.  Very dapper.”  

Lock rolled his eyes so hard he was afraid they might fall out of his skull, unable to believe how excited the two of them were over a stupid dance party.  Then he looked more closely at Shock’s face.  “Are you wearing makeup?” he asked, somewhat incredulously.  

“That’s all you have to say?” Shock snapped at him.  

“Well, are you?  You look different.”  

She frowned.  “Yes, I’m wearing makeup, what’s it to you?  It’s Jack and Sally’s 10th anniversary party, it’s kind of a big deal, idiot.  And of course I look different, I’m wearing a fancy dress.  That’s the whole point.”

Lock thought she was rather pretty all the time anyway, but she looked especially beautiful right now.  He didn’t want to let her know that, though, so he smirked, “Well, mission accomplished.  You definitely look less-ugly than usual tonight.”  He thought he was being pretty funny, but she gave him an icy look.  Had he actually hurt her feelings?  

“Well _you_ could have put a little more effort into not looking like crap for such a big occasion!” she said coldly, looking him up and down.

Lock bristled a little bit at this.  “What’s wrong with what I’m wearing?” he said, looking down at himself.  He was wearing the nicest shirt he owned, dark red with buttons up the front and at the wrists, and he had gone through the trouble of buying a new pair of black pants since none of the ones he had were in good enough condition for an event like this - and buying pants was always a hassle because he had to have Sally or Bertha tailor an extra hole in them for his tail to go through.  He’d even cleaned and shined his shoes and bought a nice, black leather belt with a silver buckle to top it all off, and he thought he looked pretty good.  “I look better than he does,” he gestured to Barrel, “And I don’t need some stupid tie!”

Barrel was completely unfazed by the insult and he just strolled past Lock towards the door.  “Whatever, I look _dapper_.” he boasted.  “Are you guys ready to go?”

“Yes.” said Shock firmly, still looking at Lock with that icy expression, then she turned away from him and followed Barrel out the door.  Lock felt a little blindsided by how angry she apparently was at him - why was she being so sensitive all of a sudden?  He hurried after them, closing the front door behind him.

“What crawled up your butt and died?” he muttered once he caught up with her, but she didn’t look at him.

“Drop it, asshole.  I’m not going to let you and your bad attitude ruin my night.”  

“What bad attitude?  You guys are the ones being stupid, getting all excited over some dumb, boring dance party.  I feel like I don’t even _know_ you two!” 

“Well sometimes I wish you didn’t!” she snarled at him, and that was mean enough that even Lock didn’t have a retort.   

“Geez, cranky…” he muttered, but she ignored him and he fell silent after that.  They arrived shortly to find the town hall lavishly decorated inside and out with lots of tall iron and pewter candelabras on the floor against the sides of the room and garlands made of pumpkin vines, dead flowers and black crepe paper strung with little lights hanging from the ceiling and draped between the wall sconces.  The seats had been removed from the hall except for some chairs along the walls and some tables at the back of the room near the food, so there was plenty of space to dance and socialize.  The band was on the stage playing some background music and a large banner was hanging above them with _“Scary 10th Anniversary To King Jack and Queen Sally”_ written in elegant, scrolling letters.  The hall was already quite full, and everybody looked especially well-dressed and like they were having an excellent time. 

“Oh boy, look at all the food!” exclaimed Barrel, and he hurried over to check it out.  Shock chuckled at him a bit, then looked around the room until she caught the eye of a few of her friends and without a word she walked over to them, leaving Lock standing there by himself.  

 _‘Terrific.’_   he thought, feeling awkward and annoyed and just generally hating being there already, especially with Barrel off stuffing his face and Shock mad at him.  He decided to go check out the food with Barrel just so he wouldn’t be standing there alone.  The food did actually look really good, it was all very fancy and laid out on tarnished silver platters with skull, spider, bat wing and black ribbon centerpieces.  Barrel already had a full plate when he saw that Lock had joined him.  

“Where’s Shock?” he asked, then popped a cube of moldy cheese into his mouth.  

“Off with her friends or something, I guess.” said Lock, trying not to sound sulky.  

“You really pissed her off, eh?” Barrel smirked, cutting off a piece of spider egg garnished seared snake steak with his fork to try next.

“I don’t know why she’s being so moody all of a sudden.” Lock complained, loading up a plate for himself.  “She puts on a shiny dress and expects us to treat her like the queen or something.”  

Barrel shrugged and cut off another piece of the steak.  “You could have just said she looked nice or something.”  

“Yeah well Jack told us years ago not to lie anymore, remember?” he said harshly, knowing that he was overreacting because deep down he thought that Barrel was probably right.  

Barrel blinked at him.  “Dang, apparently _you’re_ the one who had something crawl up your butt and die, geez.”

Lock didn’t reply, he just angrily finished filling up his plate and poured himself a glass of hemlock punch, then they went over to lean against a wall and eat.  After a few minutes the band finished up their song and the Mayor took the stage, an enormous grin plastered across the active side of his head.  Lock scowled.  He’d always hated that simpering, two-faced politician.

“Attention, everyone!”  the Mayor shouted, illuminated by the spotlight and holding up his hands until the crowd went silent and turned to face the stage.  “Tonight we celebrate the anniversary of our beloved Pumpkin King and Queen, under whose glorious leadership our town of Halloween continues to thrive year after year, constantly reaching frightful new heights of terror and ghoulish delight.  It is my very great pleasure and honor to introduce the doll and skeleton of the hour, Jack and Sally Skellington!”  Everyone burst into cheers and applause as Jack strode onstage, waving to the crowd with one hand and holding Sally’s with his other as she walked somewhat reluctantly behind him.  Even after all this time, Sally never seemed to have become fully comfortable with the adulation that came along with being the Pumpkin Queen, remaining almost as shy and unassuming as she ever was, though she did make a great effort to live up to the position and meet and exceed all of the expectations and responsibilities that came with it.  But ever since she and Jack had gotten together he had become even more energized and came up with even more inspired ideas for each Halloween, and the townsfolk loved her.  Even Dr. Finkelstein had gotten over his past bitterness and now took great pride in constantly reminding everyone that he was the one who had created their queen.  

“Thank you, friends!” said Jack, taking center stage and looking out at the adoring crowd with a wide, bony grin.  “Thank you very much!  I won’t delay the festivities with a long speech, but let me say only this: I am truly the happiest and most fortunate skeleton who ever died, thanks to my companion, my love, my dearest friend, Sally.”  Everyone whooped and clapped again for a few moments and Sally went slightly pink and smiled shyly at everyone in the audience before Jack smiled and raised one elegant hand to quiet them.  “She keeps my skull on my shoulders and my heart in the clouds and without her support, patience and love, I truly don’t know where I would be today.”

“Probably in Christmas Town!” someone called from the crowd, and everyone laughed good-naturedly, including Jack himself before he continued:  

“Here’s to many more celebrations just like this one, for many, many more years to come.  Thank you all for celebrating this happy occasion with us tonight, and have a wonderful evening!”  Everyone erupted into cheers and applause once again as Jack leaned down to give Sally a kiss and the band began to play a lively song for dancing - well, as lively as it got in Halloween Town, at least.  Anyone who didn’t know better might wonder why Jack hadn’t given Sally a chance to speak, but everyone knew how much she hated public speaking so for him to take charge on stage was doing her a kindness.  They walked down the stage stairs together and began the first dance, Jack’s elegance of movement clearly able to compensate for Sally’s somewhat unsteady bearing.  After they’d twirled around the dance floor several times, other couples joined in and the room was once again filled with laughter and happy conversation.  

“Watch my food, I gotta go to the bathroom.” said Barrel, setting his plate down on a nearby chair and heading towards the restroom.

“Thanks for sharing!” Lock called after him snarkily, then went back to his Henbane-crusted rat filets, trying to look haughty and disinterested in the festivities around him now that he was on his own again.  He tried to find Shock in the crowd, but to no avail.  After awhile it seemed like Barrel had been gone forever and Lock wondered if there was something in the food he should be concerned about that was causing Barrel to stay in the bathroom for so long… but then he saw him across the room, chatting with Shock and her friends.  Irritation flared up in him, then Shock’s eyes met his for a brief second before she turned away and then his view was blocked by Bertha and Ned dancing directly in front of him.  When he managed to peer around them, he had lost her and Barrel in the crowd once again.  Since apparently Barrel was finished eating, Lock put his own plate down and started to stroll nonchalantly along the edges of the room, trying to project an air of boredom, like all of this was beneath him but he was secretly feeling a bit miserable.  He hadn’t really been expecting to enjoy the party, but he had at least thought he’d be spending it mocking everything and everyone with Shock and Barrel, not moping about the sidelines by himself.  Suddenly he realized that nearly everyone seemed to be dancing except him and a few other people, most of whom were too decayed and decrepit to dance.  Even Barrel had officially ditched him completely and was now dancing with Azeneth, a mummy girl who Lock was pretty sure was Shock’s age.  Now instead of seeming like an aloof loner who was too cool to dance, Lock just looked (and felt) like a pathetic loser who couldn’t find a partner.  He saw Lana, another demon his age, eyeing him hopefully from the punch bowl but he wasn’t interested - she was cute enough, but not very smart and way too girly for his tastes.  Just about the only girl he wanted to get that close to was Shock, because she was smart and just the right amount of girly and they understood one another - they were on the same wavelength, he thought, so surely she wouldn’t still be mad at him for joking about her appearance earlier.  He scanned around the room again until he saw her and he started to walk over to ask if she wanted to dance when he stopped in his tracks - she was already dancing with Vasile, a vampire who was at least a year or two older than her.  Lock couldn’t believe it.  What was she doing dancing with that creep?  Quite unexpectedly, a hot wave of jealousy and possessiveness rushed through him as he realized that he didn’t _want_ her liking any other boys besides him and Barrel, and he _definitely_ didn’t want her to _like_ -like some other, older guy!  Especially not some stupid, smooth, vampire!  Vampires had a reputation for knowing how to sweep women off their feet and Lock tried to convince himself that he must have talked her into dancing with him against her will, but deep down he knew Shock better than that - he knew she would never dance with someone if she didn’t want to, vampire or not.  She looked like she was having a nice time, swaying along to the music, chatting and even occasionally laughing.  Lock had heard other girls say that Vasile was handsome… did Shock think he was handsome, too?  He clenched his fists, suddenly feeling a strong urge to punch Vasile right in his face, maybe then he wouldn’t be so handsome.  He couldn’t tolerate watching them anymore so he made his way through the crowded dance floor until he reached them.  Angry, but determined not to make too much of a scene right out of the gate, he tapped the vampire on the shoulder - perhaps a little harder than was strictly necessary - and said, “Mind if I cut in?” and before Vasile could even answer, Lock began subtly pushing him aside.

“Lock, what the hell?” said Shock, looking at him with a mix of irritation and confusion, but Vasile was much more diplomatic.

“Of course not, please, by all means.  Who could resist wishing to dance with such an enchanting creature?  It would be selfish of me to keep her all to myself.”  He stepped aside with a slight bow, but not before bringing Shock’s hand to his lips and kissing it.  

“Thanks,” Lock muttered after him, unable to keep his lip from curling up in a contemptuous sneer as Vasile swept away with his cape billowing behind him.  Who did he think he was, using all those flowery words and kissing her hand like that?  He turned back to face Shock only to find her with her hands on her hips and giving him an angry look.

“Oh, so _now_ you want to dance?  What changed your mind, get tired of looking like a loser?”

Lock didn’t even hear her, he was too miffed about Vasile.  “Why were you dancing with that creep?” 

“Because he asked and I said yes.  What’s it to you?  Why do you care?”

Lock bit his lip.  Why _did_ he care?  He just did.  That stupid vampire didn’t deserve her.  “He’s just trying to get in your pants, you know!” he blurted out before he could stop himself, and the couple dancing next to them gave him a disapproving look.

Shock raised her eyebrows in surprise, then she scowled at him.  “I’m a big girl, Lock, I can take care of myself.  I don’t need you to protect me!”  Those words stung more than he could have imagined they would.   All their lives Lock had always thought of himself as her and Barrel’s protector, at least when it came to physical altercations.  His motto had always been that nobody was allowed to beat up or bother Shock and Barrel but him, and anyone who dared mess with them got acquainted with his fists pretty quickly.  He knew that she didn’t really _need_ him to beat the snot out of anyone who looked at her wrong - she was quite capable of fighting her own battles - but he enjoyed the violence and so did she, so he figured it was a win-win situation.  But apparently she didn’t want or need his protection when it came to this sort of thing and it made him feel strangely hurt.  What good was he to her if she didn’t need him to protect her?  And now she was actually _mad_ at him for trying to protect her?  He felt extremely depressed all of a sudden.

“I’m sorry,” he mumbled.  “It’s just that… vampires are supposed to be smooth and I don’t want you to get hurt.”  He couldn’t meet her eyes as he said it, indeed, he could hardly believe those words even came out of his mouth.

Shock looked momentarily stunned, but then the scowl was back on her face.  “I’m not stupid, you know.  He’s not going to sweet-talk his way _‘into my pants’_ , as you put it.”

“I know you’re not stupid.” he said, still looking at the floor.  

She didn’t say anything for a moment and Lock wished that he could just sink into the ground but then she asked irritably, “Well, are you just going to stand there like an idiot or are we actually going to dance?”

He realized that they had indeed just been standing there talking this whole time while everyone else danced around them.  “Oh, yeah, uh…”  He looked back up at her as she started to dance again, then he quickly looked at what the other couples were doing and tried to mimic how they were dancing.  He felt incredibly awkward, absolutely certain that he looked ridiculous and completely inept to anyone who happened to be watching, but fortunately it seemed that most people were too caught up in their own little worlds to pay any attention to him.  He normally thought he had pretty good reflexes and he didn’t think of himself as clumsy - that was more Barrel’s shortcoming - but suddenly he had to really concentrate on not tripping over his own feet or stepping on hers.  She was dancing much more gracefully, he thought, with the fabric of her skirt swishing and the curls in her hair bouncing a bit as she moved to the music.  Once again he noticed how pretty she looked in that dress with her hair done all fancy and wearing a little bit of makeup.  He’d never seen so much of her neck, shoulders, collarbones and even the very top of her chest exposed like this before and it made him a little uncomfortable - he had to work hard to keep from staring at all that smooth, pale, skin.  She and Vasile had been chatting a bit while they danced and Lock had never had trouble talking to Shock before now, but suddenly he didn’t know what to say.  “Uh, so.  Having a good time at this dumb ball thing so far?” he said lamely.

She gave him a distrustful look and said somewhat defensively, “Yeah, I have been, actually.  It’s pretty fun.  And you?”

“Yeah, it’s actually not so bad.” he answered honestly.  Now that they were hanging out, it really _didn’t_ seem too bad.  “The food’s good.” he added, and she actually laughed - and he felt happy that he had made her laugh, too.  _‘Take that, Vasile.’_ he thought to himself.  She seemed to relax now that he wasn’t making fun of her for enjoying the ball and he was _almost_ starting to relax himself and forget about how stupid he probably looked with his bad dancing when the song ended.  But before he could suggest they high-tail it off the dance floor and back to the food tables the music started up again almost instantly, this time in a slow, soft, romantic kind of song.  He cringed internally - this would be even more awkward than the quicker song, but all he had to do was think about Vasile or some other smooth, sleazy jerk touching her and he instantly held out his hands to her and raised his eyebrows in an unspoken question.  She shrugged a little bit as if to say _‘why not?’_ and stepped closer to him, bringing her hands up onto his shoulders and he put his on her waist, being sure to leave some space between their bodies.  He once again looked at the other dancers for a clue as to how he should move, just as Sally and Jack swept past them in an impossibly romantic and graceful dance.  _‘Well, that’s completely unhelpful.’_   he grimaced to himself, but saw that most of the other couples were just holding each other close and sort of swaying and stepping in little circles.  He hoped he could at least manage that much.  Now he _really_ didn’t know what to say and he didn’t understand why.  What was the big deal?  Since when did he not know how to talk to Shock?  Why should it be harder to think of something to say just because they were holding on to each other like this?  He decided to blame it on the fact that there really wasn’t much he could make fun of here without pissing her off, and _not_ that he was distracted by how her waist felt through the satiny fabric of her dress beneath his hands or by her own hands gripping onto his shoulders.  They never really touched each other that much unless they were wrestling or fighting, and the wrestling and physical fighting had tapered off considerably in recent years as Lock had finally grown a little bit taller than her, as well as much stronger than she was - it wasn’t a fair fight anymore and he took no pleasure in beating up someone he cared about in an unfair fight.  So they kept their fighting to words only these days, and their hands off of each other for the most part except for teasing smacks or shoves.  He was lost in these thoughts until finally Shock broke the silence:

“Barrel looks like he’s having a good time.  I see he finally pried himself away from the food and found a friend.” she smirked and nodded her head to the side and Lock looked over to see him dancing with Lana now.  How was he able to find so many partners?

“More than one friend.” Lock snorted.  “Apparently he’s quite the ladies man all of a sudden.  Who knew chicks liked dumpy little guys with weird feet?”

Shock rolled her eyes at him.  “Well, Barrel is really sweet.  He’s not bad-looking, and on top of that he’s nice and he’s a good listener, girls like that.  Qualities _you_ obviously don’t know anything about.” 

“Hey, I’m nice!  And I can listen good, too.” Lock said, feeling defensive.  There was no way he was going to accept Barrel being considered a better partner than himself.

“Sure you can, when you want to.  I’m just saying you shouldn’t only rely on your looks, girls like more than just that.”

“Since when am I trying to attract girls?” he sneered, but he was starting to get a little flustered at Shock giving him dating advice.  Sure, he thought some girls were pretty, but he really wasn’t interested in any of them beyond that.  It was just the _concept_ of not being preferred over the likes of Vasile - and even worse, Barrel! - that got under his skin.  Then he thought again about what she had just said and he grinned, “Wait, so you think that I rely on my looks?  Are you saying I’m good-looking?”  To his great pleasure he saw her blush a tiny bit and look away from him.

“Well, you’re not awful-looking…” she stammered a bit, then recovered herself.  “And you look less-ugly than usual tonight, too.” she smirked, repeating his words from earlier and playing with the collar of his shirt a little.

“Thanks.” he grinned, secretly thrilled by what she said and that she didn’t seem to be mad at him for that comment anymore.  “You’re not awful-looking, either.” he joked, and then he thought about what Vasile had said to her earlier… Lock wanted to one-up him, but without all the stupid, fake, flowery words, so he took a deep breath and ventured, “Actually, you look really pretty.”  It sounded like something Barrel would say, so he hoped she would be impressed.  Plus, it was true.  She met his eyes again and he was pleased that she seemed to still be a little pink in the cheeks and that she looked flattered.

“Now you’re getting the hang of it.  I was starting to worry that you were too stupid to learn how to not act like an asshole.” she teased him, but then she said sincerely, “Thanks.”  He just smiled at her and tried to think of something witty to say so that she didn’t think he was getting too mushy, but then she moved her hands from his shoulders to his back and stepped closer to him - so close that she could rest her head against his shoulder.  His heart beat quicker and he hoped she couldn’t hear it with her head right next to his chest.  She certainly hadn’t done _this_ with Vasile - and if she had, Lock was positive that he wouldn’t have been able to restrain himself from knocking that damn vampire’s fangs out of his mouth right there in front of everybody.  He felt weird and warm and strangely anxious, hoping he wasn’t sweating too much as he held her close and shuffled awkwardly, trying once again not to step on her feet.  That bizarre protective, possessive feeling was back and he wrapped his arms a little more tightly around her.  It felt startlingly good to be near her like this - a little too good, in fact.  He could feel the softness of her breasts against his chest and she was trailing a little pattern on one of his shoulder blades with her fingertips.  Occasionally their stomachs or thighs would rub against one another and all this plus the scent of her hair and the feel of her slim waist beneath his hands was quickly becoming overwhelming, and horrifyingly, he felt himself starting to get aroused.

 _‘Oh god, oh god, oh god, please no….’_   he pleaded to himself and tried to think of cute, fluffy kittens, rainbows, daisies, Easter Town, anything disgusting enough to distract him.  He would die of embarrassment if she noticed and he attempted to move his hips just a tiny bit further away from her without being obvious, praying that the song would be over soon.  Why was this even happening?  It was completely crazy, this was just Shock, for crying out loud!  He didn’t even like her like that.  Sure, he didn’t want her cavorting around with some other guy, and sure she looked really beautiful tonight, and sure she was his very best friend, but that didn’t mean anything!  He told himself that he was just trying to keep scummy boys from hitting on her for her own protection, not because he was jealous - though he remembered with another little internal cringe that she didn’t _want_ him to protect her like that.  So then _why_ was he feeling like this? And even worse, why was he starting to get turned on?  His eyes darted all around the room, searching for more distractions and he saw Barrel a little ways away.  Barrel obviously had no qualms about snuggling up close to his dance partner and he was swaying on his feet with his chin on her shoulder, eyes closed and smiling contentedly.  As if he knew Lock was looking at him, he opened his eyes and shot Lock an enormous grin and then actually gave him a thumbs-up from behind Lana’s back.  Lock frowned at him, unsure of what exactly he was thumbs-upping: the fact that Barrel had landed a pretty cute dance partner or the fact that Lock had gotten Shock to slow-dance with him.  Barrel shrugged at him as much as he could in his current position, then closed his eyes again with that stupid, happy look on his face.  Unbelievable.  Lock always knew that Barrel was a huge sap, but even he hadn’t been expecting this sort of behavior from him.  Then to his enormous relief the song ended and mercifully transitioned into another faster song and he and Shock broke apart a bit.  

“Good job, you didn’t stomp on my feet.” she teased him, and he felt enormous relief once again that she didn’t seem to have noticed the start of his little problem.  Well, not _that_ little, he couldn’t help thinking to himself.

“Hey, I’m nothing if not graceful.  Surely girls like that, too.” he said in a light, airy tone and she laughed.  

“Sure they do, Romeo.  C’mon, let’s go get a drink and go outside.  It’s hot in here.”  

“Good call.” he agreed.  He felt so hot that he could hardly breath, and it definitely wasn’t because of the room temperature.  He saw Vasile eyeing them and Lock shot him a dirty look and put his hand possessively on her arm as they made their way off the dance floor and over to the punch bowl.  They each filled a glass, grabbed a few little stuffed roach and spider appetizers and headed outside to sit on the edge of the main square fountain.  Shock took her shoes off the second they sat down and Lock only then noticed that they laced up her ankles and had high, skinny heels.  He had never seen her wear high heels before - he didn’t know she even owned any - and they looked very elegant, but also incredibly uncomfortable.  “Damn, those shoes look crazy.” he said, watching as she wiggled her now-free toes.  “How do you even walk in them?”

“It’s hell, trust me.  I had to practice in my room for days, and I still feel like I’m about to fall over at any second and I can’t feel my little toes.”  She popped a stuffed roach into her mouth.  “But it felt wrong to wear normal shoes with this dress.  The price of looking ladylike or some shit, I guess.” she said with her mouth full, and Lock wanted to laugh at the idea of Shock being _‘ladylike’_.  She continued, “I can tell you, though, I am never wearing these things again, not even at my own wedding - assuming that ever even happens.  You guys are lucky, you can look acceptable without all the pain.”

“ _I_ think you look acceptable without wearing all this crap.” he said before he could stop himself, and then he felt awkward and warm again like he had while they were dancing.  He had complimented her without even thinking about it, plus the idea Shock getting married was deeply unpleasant.  He’d never thought about it before and he felt a weird little twinge in his stomach.  The day any of them got married - if ever - was still probably a long way off, but he didn’t like the thought of her or Barrel (or himself) moving out and living with other people.  She gave him an odd look and he worried that he’d offended her again by calling her nice clothes and shoes and makeup _‘crap’_ , but then the corner of her mouth turned up into a tiny smile and she looked back at the town hall.

“You should really stop being a bone-in-the-mud and go dance with some more girls.  Elvisa has a crush on you, you know.”

“Really?”  He was surprised by this, he had no idea.  She was quite pretty but he didn’t have any real feelings towards her one way or the other - but his ego couldn’t help but be gratified to hear that a cute girl had the hots for him.  “How do you know?”

“Because she told me herself.  Girls talk about those things to each other, you know… she was trying to get some inside info and get me to put in a good word for her, since you and I are friends.”

“What did you tell her?”

“I told her you’re a big, immature dumbass, so she should get over you.” she smirked.  Lock wasn’t sure if she was serious or not, but then he decided he didn’t really care if she was because he wasn’t interested in asking Elvisa out anyway.  

“Good, because I don’t really like ghouls.” he said lightly, even though that wasn’t strictly true - he actually didn’t have any real opinion on ghouls but he was trying to be clever and find a way to ask if Shock had any preferences.  _‘Just because I’m curious,’_   he told himself, _‘Not because it matters or anything….’_

“Barrel’s a ghoul, you like him.” Shock reminded him with a snicker.

“Yeah, but I’m not gonna ask Barrel out, am I?” he gave her a disgusted look and she laughed.  “What about you, do you like ghouls?” he asked casually, unfastening the buttons at his wrists and rolling his shirt sleeves up to his elbows, still feeling too warm and hoping he was being subtle with this line of questioning.

She shrugged.  “Sure, why not?  No one in particular though, and I don’t want to ask out Barrel, either, if that’s what you’re getting at…” 

“Nah, just trying to suss out how much of a prejudiced jerk you are.” he smirked, even though that was a gigantic lie.  

“Oh, like you aren’t, Mr. I-Don’t-Like-Ghouls?” she said mockingly, but then she looked thoughtful for a moment.  “I guess I don’t really care for corpses much.  Ethan was trying to hit on me earlier but obviously I turned him down.”  Lock frowned.  How many times was he going to have to beat the crap out of Ethan before he got the hint and left her alone?  Lock wanted to punch him in his stupid, sewn-up face right along with Vasile and he started fantasizing about punching them both at the same time, one with each fist, but then she continued, “I like warlocks OK…”

“And vampires.” Lock interjected, trying to look and sound teasing instead of as insecure and sulky as he felt, but then he immediately regretted it when Shock looked curiously at him for what was probably only a second or two, but what felt like a really long time.  He didn’t know what to do, so he took a large swig of his punch and dipped the tip of his tail into the fountain basin to splash the bright green water around a little bit.

“Yeah, vampires are alright…” she agreed, then looked back at the town hall before saying quietly, “But I like devils better.”  

Lock froze for a second, also staring straight ahead at the town hall.  Was she actually flirting with him?  Or just stating a general fact?  He wasn’t sure, he felt utterly lost when it came to things like this and he also felt incredibly confused because he actually found himself hoping it was the former.  He couldn’t think of a flirty response but he had to break the tension somehow, so he quickly came up with a joke.  “Well, that just proves that you have excellent taste.  So I guess you aren’t a prejudiced jerk, you’re just smart.” he said smugly, and Shock snorted. 

“It’s about time you admitted that,” she said with mock-haughtiness.  “So who _does_ meet your personal standard?  Anyone but ghouls, or are you even more stuck-up than that?”

He realized that he had an opportunity here to flirt back, assuming that she had indeed been flirting with him.  “Hey, you just said you don’t like corpses, so you’re just as stuck-up as I am.” he protested, trying to stall for time.  She laughed, then swiveled around on the edge of the fountain and hiked her dress up to her shins so she could dip her toes into the water next to his tail.  “Well,” he started, “Obviously I like demons, too, because we’re all sexy,”  Shock rolled her eyes at him and he grinned.  “And vampiresses are pretty good, I don’t mind corpses or mer-girls…”  He chanced a quick look at her and saw that she was watching him with what looked like great interest and he decided to go for it: “But witches are probably the best.”  He kept his voice light and casual, but his heart was beating fast.  What the hell was going on?  What was he even doing?  Shock raised her eyebrows at him in what seemed like an impressed, appraising sort of way.  Maybe she hadn’t been flirting with him after all, and he felt disappointed despite himself.

She smirked at him, “I guess you aren’t actually as stupid as you seem.  Good choice, if you had said anything else I’d have hexed your tail off right here.”  

Lock quickly removed his tail from the water and coiled it protectively behind him in an exaggerated manner.  “I bet you would, you witches are crazy.” he said in mock fear.

She cackled, “That must be why you like us so much, birds of a feather and all that.”  That phrase triggered an old memory deep in his mind - they used to refer to one another like that when they were children, him, Barrel and her.  _‘No, that’s why I like_ YOU _so much,’_ he thought to himself.  He was starting to come to the gradual realization that there might be a reason he wasn’t interested in any of these other cute girls, even the ones who apparently already had crushes on him, but it was too heavy and nerve-wracking to contemplate too deeply at the moment so he resorted to humor once again.

“I guess so,” he laughed, not knowing what to say after that, but thankfully a change of subject came in the form of Barrel walking out of town hall and down the steps, holding hands with Azeneth, the mummy girl.

“Oh my god!” Shock hissed excitedly and elbowed Lock hard in the arm.

“Holy shit!” Lock whispered, not sure if he should laugh or feel jealous that Barrel apparently was indeed a ladies man.  “I did not see that coming!” 

“Okay, that is hilarious, but also fucking adorable.” said Shock, then she smiled and waved as Barrel caught sight of them and started walking over.

“Hey guys!” he said happily.

“Hi!” said Azeneth, sounding just as happy.

Barrel tossed his jacket onto the edge of the fountain and started loosening his tie.  “Az and I decided to come outside, it’s hot as hell in there.”  Apparently he felt no need to explain why he had been holding hands with her, nor why he was calling her _‘Az’_.

“Yeah, that’s why we came out here, too.” said Shock.

“Vasile’s been asking where you are.” Barrel said, and Lock involuntarily scowled.

“And Elvisa’s been asking about you,” added Azeneth, looking at Lock.  “You should go dance with her, it would make her night.  And probably her whole week.” she giggled.

“Possibly her entire year.” joked Shock, and Barrel laughed.

“Poor Elvisa, I didn’t know she was that dumb.” he grinned, and Lock glared at him.  He was almost tempted to go in there and ask her to dance just to shut them all up and let everybody see someone swooning over him, but he didn’t think it would be smart to let her think he was interested in more than that.  More importantly, he didn’t want to give Vasile or anyone else the chance to creep on Shock again.  

“Yeah, that’s not happening.” he said, trying to turn the situation to his favor.  “We devils are devastatingly sexy and I don’t want to break her heart by giving her a taste of what she could never have.” he said in a lofty tone. 

Shock snorted loudly.  “Oh, that’s real magnanimous of you, truly you are a giant among demons.” she said sarcastically, but she was smiling.

“Well, since apparently neither of you seem interested in dancing with anyone but each other, how about we go to the east graveyard and vandalize some tombstones or something?” suggested Barrel, and the sly tone of his voice and the implication of his words were not lost on Lock.  He shot Barrel a threatening look, embarrassed that it had been pointed out that he’d only danced with Shock the entire evening and that he had no plans to dance with anyone else.  

“Good idea.” said Shock.  “I want to ritually burn these shoes and that’d be a great place to do it.”  Lock couldn’t hold in a loud laugh at that and she grinned at him as she picked up her shoes and hopped down off of the fountain edge.

“Are you going to walk all the way to the graveyard barefoot?” he asked, jumping down after her.

“Yeah, I think so.  It’s probably less uncomfortable than wearing these dumb things.  I have crazy blisters already.”  She began carefully picking her way across the cobblestones and he almost wanted to offer to give her a piggyback ride, but they weren’t kids anymore and he thought that would be weird.  Barrel and Azeneth walked ahead, talking closely together and leaving Lock and Shock to follow along behind them.  It almost felt like a double-date, and he kind of liked it…. but Shock was walking much slower than normal, stepping gingerly over the rough ground and Lock started getting impatient.  It would be morning before they reached the cemetery at this rate.  _‘Fuck it,’_   he thought to himself and said:

“Let me give you a piggyback ride, you’re taking forever.  I want to get to the cemetery sometime before tomorrow.”  He tried to make it sound like she was being a huge inconvenience when secretly he hoped she would accept his offer. 

“I’m fine!” she snapped, but right at that moment lifted one foot up quickly when she stepped on a small, sharp rock.  Lock rolled his eyes.

“The ground is only going to get rougher from here on out.  Either put your damn shoes on or get on my back!” he said irritably, hoping that it didn’t sound like he actually _wanted_ her on his back.

“Fine!” she practically shouted, “Here, hold these.” and she thrust her shoes into his hand and started hiking her dress up above her knees.  He quickly turned away from her, his face getting warm, and bent slightly so she could climb onto him easier.  She gripped both of his shoulders and hopped up onto his back, wrapping her legs around his waist and linking her arms over his shoulders and across his chest.  “Giddyup,” she snickered, and kicked him like he was a horse.  He tried to turn his head to give her a dirty look, but he couldn’t really see her and she snickered again - louder this time - so made an offended sort of noise before he hooked his arms more firmly under her thighs to hold her up and started walking at a quick pace after Barrel and Azeneth, her ridiculous shoes dangling from two of his fingers.  He was trying hard not to think about the fact that his bare hands and forearms were touching her bare thighs, but her skin felt incredibly soft and it was impossible for him to ignore, as was her body pressed tightly against his back and her breath behind his ear and for the second time that night he started to get aroused by her touching him.  _‘Damn it, how many times is this going to happen?’_   he thought wretchedly, hoping against hope that it was just a side effect of this unusual occasion and not how it was going to be with her all the time from now on.  Just then she pulled herself a little closer against his back and he felt the muscles of her strong, slender thighs tighten around his waist and his mind immediately dropped all the way into the gutter.  Was it possible for tonight to be both the best _and_ the worst night of his life?  He drug his mind kicking and screaming right back out of the gutter - the cemetery wasn’t far away and if Barrel happened to turn around and see the state Lock was currently in then the jig would be up.  

Fortunately he managed to get himself under control by the time they arrived and found Barrel and Az already scribbling on one of the tombstones with black paint pens.  “Where did you get those?” asked Lock, standing there with Shock still clinging to his back.  He was procrastinating putting her down for as long as he could get away with.

Barrel snickered, “I put them in my pockets before we left the house - just in case.” 

“Nice!” said Lock, impressed by Barrel’s forethought.  They may be teenagers now, but they were still trick-or-treaters at heart.  Their job had just evolved: now instead of trick-or-treating themselves, they caused property damage, scared younger trick-or-treaters and stole their candy.  It was a pretty good gig.

“Put me down on that headstone over there.” Shock said in a very bossy voice, and Lock reluctantly complied.

“Yes, your majesty.” he said sarcastically, and backed up till she could sit down on it.  She playfully kicked him in the butt with her foot when he stepped away from her and he immediately wrapped his tail around her ankle on pure instinct.  “That’s the thanks I get for acting like your personal pack-mule?  Remind me to let you walk next time and we’ll see if you get home before the next day with your feet intact!” he grumbled, then released her ankle and gently swatted her foot with the tip of his tail and dropped her shoes in front of her.

“Oh please, you loved it.” Shock teased him, and all he could do was scowl at her and then quickly change the subject.

“You got another one of those pens for me?” he asked Barrel.  

“And me.” added Shock.

“What are _you_ gonna do with it?  You and your delicate feet can’t even get off of that headstone.” sneered Lock.

“I’ll just use it right here, stupid!  Barrel, give me one of those, I want to write _‘Lock is a dumb shit’_ on this headstone.”

“Oh yeah?  Well I’m gonna write _‘Shock is a delicate, weak little princess’_ on this mausoleum over here in foot-tall letters!”

Shock threw one of her shoes at him and he ducked.  “You think I’m delicate and weak?  _You_ try walking in these things!  You wouldn’t last 5 minutes!”

“Do they always fight like this?” Az whispered to Barrel.

“Yup, pretty much.” Barrel answered, finishing up his handiwork on the tombstone with a flourish.  It looked like he had written some very creative expletives and Az had drawn several very lewd pictures to go with them.  She was a pretty good artist, Lock thought.  Barrel fished another pen out of his pocket and said, “I only brought three, here you go.”  He handed it to Lock and tossed the other one to Shock.

“Thanks.” Lock and Shock said simultaneously, then they both glared at each other.  

“Hey, I thought you said you were gonna burn those shoes.” Barrel said.

“Oh yeah!  Let’s burn them on top of that tomb over there.” said Shock, and she slid down off of the headstone she was sitting on and picked up her other shoe.

“Need a lift again, your highness?” Lock said mockingly, and Shock turned up her nose at him.

“I think I can handle walking 20 feet, thank you very much.” she said snottily, and made her way carefully to the designated tomb.  Lock picked up the shoe she’d thrown at him and followed her, and Barrel and Az turned around where they were sitting on the ground to watch the show.  They placed the shoes on top of the tomb and Shock turned to Barrel and said, “Did you bring any matches?”  Barrel shook his head, so then she turned to Lock.  “Would you do the honors, then?”

“What would you do without me?” he teased, but snapped his fingers against the ankle-laces and they ignited.  Soon the flames engulfed both shoes entirely and they sent up a rather large cloud of rancid black smoke as they burned.

“Thus do we send you back to the depths from which you came.” Shock said as if she were performing an exorcism, and before long they weren’t much more than a pile of ash and a large scorch mark on top of the tomb.  Then she took her black paint pen and wrote beneath the remains: _’Here lie Shock’s torture-shoes.  May they burn in hell for all eternity.’_

“Well, that was satisfying.” she said, and Lock couldn’t help but be amused.  He vaguely wondered how much the shoes that he’d just sent up in flames had cost her, but the look on Shock’s face made it clear that she had no regrets.  

“Hopefully none of us will get cancer now.”  said Barrel, waving his hand in front of his nose.  “That smoke was rank.”  Azeneth giggled adoringly at him and Lock wished that Shock would look at him like that.

They spent the next hour or so talking and laughing and causing as much damage to the cemetery as they could.  Shock and Az continued their graffiti with the pens and Lock and Barrel worked together to push over headstones until several very angry ghosts threatened them and they hurried back to where the girls were.  Then Lock set fire to the herb garden and they all sat down together to watch it burn.

“Does anybody see any sticks?” said Barrel.

“Why?” asked Shock.

“So we can toast these.” he said, and pulled a handful of the roach appetizers from the party out of his pocket.

“Dang, Barrel, what else have you got stuffed in there?” said Lock, and Shock laughed a little.

“Here’s one,” Shock said, and handed it to Barrel.  “I see a few more over there, too.”  They managed to locate three sticks and a rib bone, and they each skewered some roaches and held them over the fire.  Barrel and Az were holding hands again as they munched on their snacks and Lock looked down and saw how close Shock’s hand was to his own.  He really wanted to hold it, but that would be going way too far.  He wasn’t even quite fully ready to accept the fact that he _wanted_ to hold her hand, plus he had no idea if she wanted him to -  if he tried and she rejected him he would die of humiliation and they might as well just bury him right here since they were in the graveyard already.  So he contented himself with sneaking glances at her, liking the way the firelight shone in her clever, black, wicked eyes and illuminated the planes and valleys of her face, neck, shoulders and collarbones.  The way she was sitting and the way the light hit her even afforded him a glimpse of cleavage and he felt warm for reasons that had nothing to do with the fire.  Sometimes he would catch her looking at him, too, and he hoped it was for the same reason he was looking at her.    

When the fire died out, Barrel stood up and Az followed suite.  “Well, I’m beat.” he said.  “I think I ate too much and now I just want to sleep.”

“Sounds about right,” Shock chuckled, shaking her head.  “I’m tired, too.”

“Same here.” said Az, and Lock agreed.  He had no idea what time it was, only that it was very, very late.  Barrel and Az started walking towards the cemetery gate and Lock stood up and stretched.  Knocking over headstones was pretty hard work and he didn’t want to be too sore in the morning.  Shock stood up after him and he noticed her shiver as she wrapped her arms around herself.  He knew that she always ran a little on the cold side, and on top of that her shoulders, arms and feet were bare and it was starting to get a little chilly out.  He saw that Barrel had given Azeneth his jacket and Lock started to regret that he didn’t have one to offer Shock.  Apparently Barrel _was_ a better partner than him, but he had to at least make an attempt.

“You want my shirt?  I have a t-shirt on underneath.  If you’re cold or something.  Friends don’t let friends freeze to death.”  He was babbling, trying not to make it sound like she was his date.

“Taking a page out of Barrel’s book, eh?” she smirked up at him and before he could protest she said, “Won’t you be cold?”

“Nah, you know me, I’m too warm all the time.  I felt like taking it off hours ago anyway.  I’ll be fine.” he said carelessly.

“Alright, thanks, Romeo.” she said and he rolled his eyes at her and started unbuttoning his shirt, secretly liking that she called him that.  If she wouldn’t let him protect her from skeezy guys, at least she was letting him protect her from being cold.  He shrugged out of it and handed it to her, thinking it would be overkill to drape it around her shoulders like Barrel had done with Azeneth.  Shock was far too independent for that sort of thing and Lock would be damned if he started acting like _too_ much of a gentleman.  She put it on and he decided he liked how she looked wearing his clothes, then remembered that she was completely without shoes now so it was up to him to carry her back home.  

“Well, climb aboard, princess.” he teased.  She smacked him on the arm but did as he said, hiking up her dress to above her knees again, but this time he didn’t turn around quite as quickly as he had before.  The evening was coming to an end and he wanted to sear the image into his brain while he had the chance.  She hopped onto his back and he hooked his arms beneath her legs once again, then headed off through the gates and towards home. 

Barrel and Azeneth were quite far ahead of them at this point but Lock didn’t hurry to catch up.  He wanted to make the night last as long as possible, plus he was getting tired.  Shock wasn’t really all that heavy, but carrying her between town and the cemetery twice, plus pushing over all those headstones, plus the lateness of the hour and the stress of the night in general was starting to wear on him.  They reached the main square once again and Barrel turned around and called to them, “I’m gonna walk Az to her house, I’ll see you guys at home in a bit!”  

“Okay!” Shock called rather loudly from right behind his ear.  “It was fun hanging out with you, Azeneth, see you later!”

“Yeah, bye!” added Lock.

Azeneth waved at them and called, “Goodnight!”  Then she and Barrel turned down a different side road, hand in hand once more.

“How serious do you think they are?” Shock murmured as they turned down their own street.

Lock shrugged.  “How serious can they be? They barely know each other.”

“Well, regardless, I wasn’t expecting that.  It’s cute though, I hope it goes somewhere.  Az is really nice.”

“Yeah, I guess so…”  Lock really wasn’t all that interested in Barrel’s love life, he was just depressed that it seemed like Barrel was getting a girlfriend before he was.  _‘It’s not like you don’t have options…’_   he thought to himself.  Elvisa would obviously go out with him and he suspected that Lana would too, by the way she’d been eyeing him at the punch bowl that night.  But once again he came to the harrowing conclusion that the only girl he wanted to be with was Shock.  What a mess.  He knew he shouldn’t have gone to this stupid ball. 

They finally arrived home and he bent down so Shock could slide more easily off of his back and onto the floor.  “Thanks for the lift, pack-mule.” she said as though it were his actual name.  She’d better not turn that into a nickname for him.

“Very funny,” he scoffed.  “You’d better not buy any more shoes like those if you’re as smart as you like to think you are.  I’m not hauling your fat ass around again, no matter what the occasion.”  

“Believe me, that was the first, last and only time I’m wearing anything like those.” she yawned, padding towards the stairs.  “Dibs on the bathroom, I gotta scrub this crud off of my face.”

“No way, that means you’re going to be in there forever.  I’m going first, I just gotta take a leak and brush my teeth, then I’ll be done and you can spend all night in there.”

“Fine, I have to change out of this dress first anyway.” she called from her bedroom door, then closed it behind her.  Lock went into the bathroom, relieved himself, washed his hands and then started brushing his teeth, trying to sort through all of the complicated feelings swirling around in his mind.  Then Shock knocked on the door and said, “You done pissing?”

“Yeah.” he mumbled around his toothbrush, and she came into the bathroom in her pajamas.

“Move over, I can’t wait any longer.” she said, bumping him aside with her hip and grabbing a washcloth off of the shelf.  He watched her in the mirror as she scrubbed her face clean and dry, then took the ribbon out of her hair and started brushing out her curls.  He had been hoping that watching her transform back into her usual look would help him revert back to how he used to think about her, but that didn’t seem to be the case.  Now somehow she looked even prettier to him with her face all clean and her hair going back to it’s naturally unruly state, wearing her old, over-large and decidedly un-sexy pajamas.  Even this domestic routine that was so familiar to them both felt different now, almost like this time after sharing the bathroom they would then also share a bedroom.  He quickly snapped himself out of that way-too-appealing thought and pushed her away from the sink with his own hip so he could spit out his toothpaste and rinse his mouth.  Then he ran a comb through his hair but had nothing else to do in there to use as an excuse to stay with her, so he went to the door.

“Well, goodnight.” he said.

“‘Night,” she replied, squeezing some toothpaste onto her toothbrush.  He felt like he should say something else, but had absolutely no idea what.  He was just about through the door when she said, “Hey, Lock?”  and he instantly popped his head back in.

“Yeah?”  Oh god, what was she going to say?  All sorts of crazy possibilities flashed through his head.

“I had a lot of fun tonight.” she said simply, meeting his eyes in the mirror and she almost looked a little shy.  He’d never seen her make that expression before and having her direct it towards him caused a funny sort of feeling in his stomach.  

“Me too.” he answered honestly, then felt the need to make a joke to try and calm down the moths that were now fluttering around in his gut.  “It sucked way less than I was expecting.”  She laughed a little bit at that and he grinned at her and went back out into the hallway, shutting the bathroom door behind him.  Back in his bedroom he stripped off his clothes and crawled into bed.  He almost never slept in anything more than boxer shorts, he got too warm in pajamas and he was already feeling abnormally hot as it was.  He realized that Shock still had his dress shirt from when he’d given it to her earlier, and he embarrassingly hoped that it would smell like her when she gave it back to him.  He sighed and turned over onto his back.  What a confusing, exhausting night.  He heard the front door open and close - Barrel had obviously just arrived home and Lock wondered if he’d gotten to kiss Azeneth.  Lock wished that he had gotten to kiss Shock, but it was all too much, too soon, and he still had a lot of thinking to do, both about tonight and what tomorrow might bring.  He sighed heavily again and rolled over onto his side and closed his eyes, willing himself to fall asleep and wondering when the next fancy party would be.  To his very great surprise, he hoped it would be soon.


	3. Shock

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Shock is feeling a bit self-conscious about dressing so elegantly for the ball, but makes the decision to enjoy herself anyway - no matter how much Lock tries to rain on her parade.

Shock took a step back to appraise herself in the mirror, conflicting feelings crashing around in her mind at the sight of herself in the fancy evening dress that Sally had made her for the anniversary ball tonight.  She couldn’t decide if she liked how she looked or not.  The dress itself was beautiful, there was no doubt about that… Shock just wasn’t sure about how _she_ looked wearing it.  She’d never been a very girly-girl, but she also wasn’t completely a tomboy -  she’d always kept her hair long and usually wore dresses, but they were plain, utilitarian dresses.  They had a function, and that function wasn’t beauty.  Now, wrapped in shimmering purple-black fabric she hardly recognized herself - and couldn’t decide if that was a good thing or a bad thing.  One moment she thought she looked quite beautiful - who couldn’t in such an elegant dress?  It had a low neckline that showed off her neck and shoulders and the bodice was fitted to her torso.  The long skirt puffed out a little bit at where it was attached to the bodice, emphasizing her the slimness of her waist.  She had always been slender and Sally was an excellent seamstress who had made the dress in a way that flattered her figure, and as Shock turned around in the mirror she was quite surprised by how slim the dress made her waist look, and how long and graceful it made her neck and arms appear.  But then the next moment she would feel ridiculous and ugly, her bare arms and décolletage making her feel exposed and vulnerable, and thinking that she was too skinny and her ass was too flat and her breasts were too small.  Who did she think she was, dressing like this?  Some curvy succubus or sexy vampiress?  Then she would turn around to look from another angle and cycle would begin again.  It was exhausting, and she hadn’t even left her bedroom yet.  She stepped close to the mirror again to check her makeup for what must have been the hundredth time. She’d never worn a speck of makeup before in her whole life and it had taken her hours - and many failed attempts and pokes in the eye - to apply just a little mascara and eyeliner in such a way that it seemed symmetrical and not excessive.  Thankfully the beauty gods had at least graced her with a near-perfect complexion so she didn’t have to try to wrangle powders or concealing potions to even out her skin tone.  She didn’t own any jewelry and hadn’t been willing to fork over the money to buy any, even for this special occasion.  Jewelry would have felt like a little too over-the-top for her anyway, but she _had_ made the effort to learn how to curl her unruly hair and adorn it with a black satin ribbon.  It was a strange feeling, looking at herself all dolled up like this, almost as if she was looking at someone else or like she was looking at herself through someone else’s eyes… she didn’t know how to describe it, it was just weird.  “Fuck it.” she said out loud, and finally made up her mind to just roll with it and try to enjoy herself as much as possible.  She _was_ looking forward to the ball, it sounded like it would be a lot of fun and she felt that at 18 years old she was overdue for dressing up nicely and going out to socialize, even if she did look ridiculous.  She was nothing if not practical, and she figured that if she got out there and looked and felt absolutely horrible then she would just never dress up like this ever again, simple as that.  She sat down on the edge of her bed to put on her shoes, delicate black things that laced up her ankles and had the highest, skinniest heels she’d ever even attempted to walk in.  She’d purchased them over a week ago and had been practicing walking around her room in them for days, trying to build up endurance and learn how to not fall on her ass.  If she ever had any enemies to torture, making them run laps in these things would be an excellent start.  She took a deep breath and looked at herself one more time in the mirror, and during a moment where she thought she looked good she turned around and walked out the door before she could change her mind again.  She tottered unsteadily down the stairs, hanging on to the railing so she wouldn’t fall and break her neck, then headed into the living room where Lock and Barrel were waiting for her.  

“Wow, Shock, you look really nice!  I like your dress!” Barrel exclaimed with a wide grin, turning away from the cracked mirror where he’d been checking his hair.

“Thanks!” said Shock, and she gave a little twirl.  “Sally made it for me, I told her I didn’t want anything frilly or too girly.  I think she did a good job, I like how it turned out.  You clean up pretty well, yourself!” she told him, and he smiled happily and adjusted his tie.  

“You think so?  I wasn’t sure about the tie, I thought maybe it was a little too much.”

“Nah, you look great.  Very dapper.”  He did look quite cute, she thought, in his nice black slacks, jacket and dark blue-green dress shirt, and she was glad that at least one of them besides her was looking forward to the evening.  Lock had been grumbling about the ball ever since it was announced and now he was sitting on the sofa with his arms crossed like a petulant child, flicking his tail impatiently.  

“Are you wearing makeup?” he asked suddenly in a tone that suggested disbelief and Shock immediately felt her hackles go up.

“That’s all you have to say?” she snapped.  She hadn’t been expecting him to tell her she looked gorgeous or anything - this was Lock, after all - but she _had_ hoped that he might at least be able to refrain from being downright rude for once.

“Well, are you?  You look different.”

She frowned at him, her earlier insecurity rapidly returning under his scrutiny.  “Yes, I’m wearing makeup, what’s it to you?  It’s Jack and Sally’s 10th anniversary party, it’s kind of a big deal, idiot.  And of course I look different, I’m wearing a fancy dress.  That’s the whole point.”

“Well, mission accomplished.  You definitely look less-ugly than usual tonight.” he smirked, and she wasn’t prepared for how much his flippant remark stung.  It was one thing to think of herself as ugly, but it was an entirely different thing to hear him say it.  She stupidly felt like she might cry, so she turned to her tried-and-true method of masking how much he’d hurt her feelings: tearing him down as cruelly as she could.

“Well _you_ could have put a little more effort into not looking like crap for such a big occasion!” she said coldly, looking him up and down.  It was mean, but it also wasn’t really true.  He actually looked quite dashing and she hated how handsome she had to admit he was.  The dark red color of his long-sleeved button-down shirt went nicely with his hair and it looked like he’d even bought nice new black pants and a belt.  At least he seemed to appreciate the magnitude of the celebration and had dressed appropriately, despite constantly deriding it as _‘just some boring, stupid dance party’_.  She seemed to have gotten to him, because she saw him bristle a little bit and he said in an offended tone:

“What’s wrong with what I’m wearing?  I look better than he does,”  He gestured to Barrel, “And I don’t need some stupid tie!”

Barrel was completely unfazed by the insult and he just strolled past Lock towards the door.  “Whatever, I look _dapper_.” he boasted.  “Are you guys ready to go?”

“Yes.” said Shock firmly, still looking angrily at Lock and wishing she could set his hair on fire with her glare alone, then she turned away from him and followed Barrel out the door.  

“What crawled up your butt and died?” Lock muttered when he caught up to her, but she didn’t look at him.

“Drop it, asshole.  I’m not going to let you and your bad attitude ruin my night.”  She was unwilling to let him know just how much power he had over her self-image.

“What bad attitude?  You guys are the ones being stupid, getting all excited over some dumb, boring dance party.  I feel like I don’t even _know_ you two!” 

“Well sometimes I wish you didn’t!” she snarled at him, and that was mean enough that even Lock didn’t have a retort.   

“Geez, cranky…” he muttered, but she ignored him and he fell silent after that.  They arrived shortly to find the town hall lavishly decorated inside and out with lots of tall iron and pewter candelabras on the floor against the sides of the room and garlands made of pumpkin vines, dead flowers and black crepe paper strung with little lights hanging from the ceiling and draped between the wall sconces.  The seats had been removed from the hall except for some chairs along the walls and some tables at the back of the room near the food, so there was plenty of space to dance and socialize.  The band was on the stage playing some background music and a large banner was hanging above them with _“Scary 10th Anniversary To King Jack and Queen Sally”_   written in elegant, scrolling letters.  The hall was already quite full, and everybody looked especially well-dressed and like they were having an excellent time. 

“Oh boy, look at all the food!” exclaimed Barrel, and he hurried over to check it out.  Shock chuckled at him a bit, then looked around the room until she caught the eye of a few of her friends and without a word she walked over to them, knowing that if she didn’t get Lock out of her sight immediately she was either going to deck him or start crying.  

“Oh my god, Shock, you look amaaaazing!” squealed Beldamine, a fellow witch who was a year younger.

“That dress is _gorgeous_ , it fits you perfectly!” added Gisel, a cyclops who was the same age as Shock.

“And your hair, aaaah, it looks so pretty all curled up like that!  I wish I had hair!” said Ann, a skeleton who was a few years older.  Shock laughed and felt her mood improving thanks to the support of her friends.  The four of them chattered and fussed over each others hair, clothes and shoes, and despite it being the girliest conversation Shock had ever partaken in, it was kind of fun.  It certainly helped her feel less self-conscious, at least.  She glanced over to the food table and saw Barrel and Lock talking, and she felt vindicated by Lock’s disgruntled expression.  At least it looked like _she_ was going to be able to have a pleasant evening, even if he wasn’t.  Her friends were now talking about how festive the hall looked, the intricacy of the decorations and what everyone else was wearing when Elvisa, a ghoul who was a year younger than Shock, joined them.  

“Hi guys!” she said cheerfully, holding a plate full of food.  “Have you tried the food yet, it’s amazing!”  

 _‘What’s with ghouls and food, anyway?’_ Shock thought to herself, then glanced over at the food table again and saw that Lock and Barrel were nowhere near it anymore.  Since the coast was clear and she was a little hungry herself, she suggested they all go check it out.  It looked delicious and very fancy, laid out on tarnished silver platters with skull, spider, bat wing and black ribbon centerpieces.  They loaded up some plates and found an empty spot at a table to sit down and eat and chat.  Elvisa took a seat next to Shock, and after a moment she put down her fork and whispered somewhat nervously:

“I want to ask you something, but you have to promise not to tell anyone, okay?”

Shock raised an eyebrow.  She wasn’t really one to gossip, but she was curious what secret Elvisa could possibly want to share with her since they weren’t much more than acquaintances.  “Okay, I promise…” she said hesitantly.

Elvisa glanced around the room and then said, “Well, you’ve always lived with Lock, so you must know him really well, right?”

“Yes.  I wish I didn’t, though…” Shock grumbled, unhappy with the direction the conversation was going, but Elvisa didn’t seem to have noticed.  

“Do you know, does he… _like_ -like anyone?”  

Shock looked at her in surprise.  “No, I don’t think so.  I don’t think he cares about anyone but himself.” she said bitterly.  “Why, do you like him or something?”

Elvisa blushed a little and giggled.  “Yeah, I do.  He’s just so _cute_ and _funny_ , don’t you think?”

Shock looked at her blankly, then answered, “I guess he’s kind of cute, but he’s _definitely_ not funny.”

“What’s he really like?  You know, at home?” Elvisa whispered conspiratorially.

“He’s a gigantic, immature dumbass.”

She gave Shock a strange sort of look at that, then said, “Are you trying to put me off of him because you like him yourself or something?”

“What?  No!” Shock protested, then realized that it did seem rather suspicious for her to be putting down her lifelong friend and roommate so harshly, so she sighed and said, “Ok, he’s not that bad, I’m just pissed off at him at the moment.  He definitely is cute and he can be funny sometimes and he’s usually a lot of fun to hang out with, but I’m not kidding when I say he’s got a bit of a mean streak and he’s immature.  You’d be better off waiting till he grows up a bit before you try hitting on him.” 

That seemed to satisfy Elvisa and she smiled again.  “Well, do you think you can put in a good word for me anyway, and just kind of see if he’s noticed me at all?” 

“Sure,” said Shock, but she found that she didn’t much like the idea of playing matchmaker for Lock.  He was such a jerk that she didn’t think any girl could deal with him except for herself… or maybe she just didn’t _want_ any other girl dealing with him except for herself?  She shook that thought off as soon as it came and just smiled at Elvisa.  

“Thanks Shock, you’re the best!  I owe you one!” 

Just then the band finished up their song and the Mayor took the stage, an enormous grin plastered across the active side of his head.  “Attention, everyone!” he shouted, illuminated by the spotlight and holding up his hands until the crowd went silent and turned to face the stage.  Shock rolled her eyes.  That idiotic Mayor seemed to get more and more ridiculous every year.  “Tonight we celebrate the anniversary of our beloved Pumpkin King and Queen, under whose glorious leadership our town of Halloween continues to thrive year after year, constantly reaching frightful new heights of terror and ghoulish delight.  It is my very great pleasure and honor to introduce the doll and skeleton of the hour, Jack and Sally Skellington!”  Everyone burst into cheers and applause as Jack strode onstage, waving to the crowd with one hand and holding Sally’s with his other as she walked somewhat reluctantly behind him.  Even after all this time, Sally never seemed to have become fully comfortable with the adulation that came along with being the Pumpkin Queen, remaining almost as shy and unassuming as she ever was, though she did make a great effort to live up to the position and meet and exceed all of the expectations and responsibilities that came with it.  But ever since she and Jack had gotten together he had become even more energized and came up with even more inspired ideas for each Halloween, and the townsfolk loved her.  Even Dr. Finkelstein had gotten over his past bitterness and now took great pride in constantly reminding everyone that he was the one who had created their queen.  

“Thank you, friends!” said Jack, taking center stage and looking out at the adoring crowd with a wide, bony grin.  “Thank you very much!  I won’t delay the festivities with a long speech, but let me say only this: I am truly the happiest and most fortunate skeleton who ever died, thanks to my companion, my love, my dearest friend, Sally.”  Everyone whooped and clapped again for a few moments and Sally went slightly pink and smiled shyly at everyone in the audience before Jack smiled and raised one elegant hand to quiet them.  “She keeps my skull on my shoulders and my heart in the clouds and without her support, patience and love, I truly don’t know where I would be today.”

“Probably in Christmas Town!” someone called from the crowd, and everyone laughed good-naturedly, including Jack himself before he continued:  

“Here’s to many more celebrations just like this one, for many, many more years to come.  Thank you all for celebrating this happy occasion with us tonight, and have a wonderful evening!”  Everyone erupted into cheers and applause once again as Jack leaned down to give Sally a kiss and the band began to play a lively song for dancing - well, as lively as it got in Halloween Town, at least.  Anyone who didn’t know better might wonder why Jack hadn’t given Sally a chance to speak, but everyone knew how much she hated public speaking so for him to take charge on stage was doing her a kindness.  They walked down the stage stairs together and began the first dance, Jack’s elegance of movement clearly able to compensate for Sally’s somewhat unsteady bearing.  After they’d twirled around the dance floor several times, other couples joined in and the room was once again filled with laughter and happy conversation.  

“That’s so romantic!” sighed Beldamine, and Shock couldn’t help but roll her eyes a bit.  The girliness was staring to get to her a little and she was finding that she was missing the company of Barrel and Lock, despite how mad she was at the latter.  Then she saw Ethan waddling up to their table and she gritted her teeth, fighting the urge to throw her plate at him before he reached them.  

“Hey, Shock.” he wheezed.  “You look really hot.  How about you take a spin around the dance floor with me?”

“Yeah, how about no.” said Shock, not even trying to hide her disgust.  Ethan had been an irritating presence almost her entire life, going out of his way to bug her ever since Oogie Boogie had died and she, Lock and Barrel had started spending more time in town.  She never knew if it was because he had a crush on her or he just liked bothering her for some other unknown reason, but either way it was incredibly annoying.  Ever since they were kids Lock had never tolerated anyone bugging Shock except for Barrel and himself and he was always quick to step in if he was around.  Despite the fact that she could fight her own battles, Shock _did_ rather enjoy watching Lock beat the hell out of that stupid corpse kid (or anybody, really)… but how many times did Shock have to cuss Ethan out - and how many times did Lock have to pound him into a pulp - for him to get the hint?  That was the problem with corpses, you could punch them until your fists turned black and green, but it never seemed to slow them down for long and the results of Lock’s hard work were always quite temporary.  She had no idea what would make Ethan think she would have any interest in dancing with him, or even _talking_ with him, since she never had before.  She could only assume he was feeling bold because it was a crowded room and a formal occasion - and Lock was nowhere near her at the moment.  Either that or he was even more stupid than she already knew him to be.  Or both.

“Come on, you know you want to.” Ethan said, and she gripped her fork harder, the desire to stab him in the forehead growing stronger.  Happily for her at that very moment Barrel appeared at her side and Ethan stepped back and then finally wandered away.  He probably assumed that since Barrel had shown up that Lock wouldn’t be far behind, and everyone knew that Lock would have no qualms about punching someone in the face even in the middle of a party.

“Hello!” Barrel said cheerfully, and the girls all returned his greeting.  “Having a good time?  This food is awesome, isn’t it?”

Shock laughed at him, “Everything tastes awesome to you, especially since you basically live off of cereal and candy!”  

“That’s true,” he admitted with a completely unselfconscious grin.  “Does anybody want to dance?”

“I would!” said a shy voice from just behind him and Shock looked and saw Azeneth, a very sweet mummy who was her own age.  Judging by her posture and the tone of her voice, Shock would have bet a million bones that she was blushing underneath all those bandages.  Shock couldn’t help but wonder if Lock was dancing with anyone and she scanned the room and saw him leaning against a wall by himself, looking haughty and aloof.  He turned his head and their eyes met for a brief second before she looked away, feeling glad that he wasn’t with anyone.  She tried to tell herself she was glad because he was a turd who didn’t deserve anyone dancing with him, but way down deep in her heart she was afraid she might feel glad for selfish reasons that had nothing to do with being mad at him.  Again she ignored this thought and snapped out of it when Barrel said to Azeneth:

“Great!” and he held out his hand to her and they headed for the dance floor.

“That is super-cute,” said Ann and the others agreed, including Shock.  If anyone deserved to have someone crushing on them, it was Barrel.

Suddenly a deep, heavily-accented voice came from just over Shock’s left shoulder: “Good evening ladies, please forgive my intrusion, but you all look ravishing tonight.”  It was Vasile, a vampire who was just over two years older than her, and he was bowing deeply and looking directly at her even as he addressed the group.  “Shock, you are looking particularly exquisite, if I may say so.  Might I be so bold as to request this dance?”

Shock was stunned, she honestly hadn’t been expecting anyone to ask her, especially not a vampire as popular as Vasile was.  She felt a little flustered - even though she didn’t know him well, he was extremely handsome and she couldn’t help but feel flattered that he had singled her out.  All of her friends were looking at her with wide eyes, waiting for her response.  How could she say no?  “Alright,” she said, and took hold of his outstretched hand and he lead her to the dance floor.  He was a good dancer, well-spoken, an excellent conversationalist, very easy on the eyes, and Shock was enjoying herself immensely - but she wasn’t sure how much further she wanted this acquaintance to go.  Despite - or perhaps because of - all of these charming qualities she doubted they had much in common and his flowery language and graceful demeanor made her feel rather klutzy and crass by comparison.  However, she was certainly having fun at the moment… but then that moment abruptly ended when none other than Lock suddenly appeared and tapped Vasile on the shoulder.

“Mind if I cut in?” he said, and Shock recognized his tone as the one he used right before he pummeled someone into the ground. 

“Lock, what the hell?” she said, unable to fathom what on earth he thought he was doing by interrupting her and Vasile on the dance floor like this, but Vasile was much more diplomatic.

“Of course not, please, by all means.  Who could resist wishing to dance with such an enchanting creature?  It would be selfish of me to keep her all to myself.”  He stepped aside with a slight bow, but not before bringing Shock’s hand to his lips and kissing it. 

“Thanks,” Lock muttered after him, his yellow eyes glinting and his lip curling up in a contemptuous sneer as Vasile swept away with his cape billowing behind him. 

 _‘Unbelievable,’_ she thought, rage bubbling up inside of her and she put her hands on her hips and glared at him.  “Oh, so _now_ you want to dance?  What changed your mind, get tired of looking like a loser?”

“Why were you dancing with that creep?” he said, as if he were her chaperone or something.

“Because he asked and I said yes.  What’s it to you?  Why do you care?”  He was probably going to make a crack about how she was too ugly to be dancing with someone like Vasile.  It truly felt like Lock was trying to ruin her night by any means possible at this point.  Couldn’t he find something better to do, like jumping off a bridge?

He bit his lip, then suddenly blurted out: “He’s just trying to get in your pants, you know!”

She couldn’t believe he just said that.  He really did seem to think he was her chaperone and she was having none of it.  “I’m a big girl, Lock, I can take care of myself.  I don’t need you to protect me!” she hissed.

He was quiet for a moment, then looked down at the floor and mumbled, “I’m sorry.  It’s just that… vampires are supposed to be smooth and I don’t want you to get hurt.”  

Shock was downright stunned.  He had never, _ever_ said anything like that before and she was oddly touched by it.  But she was also still annoyed with him for butting in and treating her like an idiot, so she answered, “I’m not stupid, you know.  He’s not going to sweet-talk his way _‘into my pants’_ , as you put it.”  Honestly, did he think she was some naive child?  She knew better than to completely trust Vasile’s advances to be indicative of any serious feelings on his part.

“I know you’re not stupid.” he said, still looking at the floor and he looked so miserable that Shock began to soften towards him a bit - but just a little bit.

“Well,” she said, “are you just going to stand there like an idiot or are we actually going to dance?”  Now that he was here she figured she might as well dance with him.  It would be less embarrassing than storming off the dance floor or smacking him in front of everyone.  They started dancing and Shock was amused by how much worse Lock was at it than Vasile, but she couldn’t help but feel a swell of affection for him anyway.  He was certainly less intimidating than the vampire and he was familiar and comfortable and she felt downright graceful by comparison… and she had to admit that she found him way more attractive than the very handsome Vasile and she hated it.  She couldn’t stop herself from sneaking glances at him when he wasn’t looking - it wasn’t often that he dressed this nicely, after all.  The top two buttons of his shirt were undone and she could see the entirety of his throat and the indent between his collarbones, and the cut of his shirt emphasized his lean torso and the broadness of his shoulders.  His black slacks fit him perfectly and he filled them out quite nicely, she thought, her face feeling a little warm as she quickly looked away.  She knew he had to have all of his pants customized to accommodate his tail, and apparently Sally had tailored the rest of this pair to fit him just as well as she’d tailored Shock’s own dress to fit her.  It really wasn’t fair how physically attractive he’d grown up to be while the rest of him remained as annoying and clueless as ever.  She really couldn’t blame Elvisa for lusting after him from afar - hell, Shock suddenly found herself doing it from close up, and she should really know better.

He seemed strangely nervous and she couldn’t imagine why he would be, but his eyes were darting all over the place, only occasionally meeting her own.  Maybe he was just embarrassed to be dancing with her?  _‘Tough shit, he started it.’_ she told herself firmly and forced herself to stop covertly ogling him.  Then she noticed that it appeared as though he kept looking at her chest before quickly looking away.  Surely she was imagining things… it wasn’t like she had gigantic, bouncing, distracting boobs or anything, and why would he want to look at hers anyway?  He’d made it quite clear their entire lives - up to and including tonight - that he didn’t find her attractive.  But she couldn’t quite squelch that annoying little flicker of excitement at the _possibility_ of him checking her out like that.  She was starting to feel a little flustered despite herself when he spoke up:

“Uh, so.  Having a good time at this dumb ball thing so far?”

Shock felt her hackles raise again - if he started making fun of her she was going to have to slap him despite being on a dance floor crowded with their friends and neighbors.  “Yeah, I have been, actually.” she said, daring him to push his luck.  “It’s pretty fun.  And you?”

“Yeah, it’s actually not too bad.  The food’s good.”  

Shock laughed in relief.  Standing by himself on the sidelines after being abandoned by her and Barrel seemed to have humbled him a bit, and she began to let her guard down, now feeling considerably less annoyed with him.  They didn’t say anything else for a moment, then the song came to an end and immediately segued into a soft, slow, romantic kind of song.  She expected him to pull a face and try to convince her to stop dancing, and she wasn’t opposed to that idea herself - her feet were really starting to hurt and slow dancing seemed like it would be more awkward and difficult than the quicker songs.  But instead of suggesting they stop, he held out his hands to her and raised his eyebrows in a questioning sort of expression.  He couldn’t possibly be serious… Lock, wanting to slow dance?  Since when did he want to dance at _all_ , let alone with her?  This was going way beyond just trying to ruin her night or acting like some overbearing chaperone trying to prevent unscrupulous vampires from seducing her.  Why would he care about her getting seduced anyway, unless… unless he had some other reason for wanting to keep her busy on the dance floor with him.  _‘Surely not,’_   she thought to herself, but she couldn’t think of any other rational explanation.  She tried to play it cool and shrugged casually before walking towards him and putting her hands on his shoulders, careful not to get too close.  His own hands wrapped around her waist and she was barely able to hold in a little gasp.  They were large and warm and gentle, and he’d never touched her like this before, even when they used to wrestle and fight - and they hadn’t even done that for the last few years as Lock had finally grown a little bit taller than her, as well as much stronger than she was.  And as big of a jerk as he was capable of being, Lock had never, _ever_ raised his hand to her once it became clear that it wasn’t a fair fight anymore.  So they kept their fighting to words only these days, and their hands off of each other for the most part except for teasing smacks or shoves.  They began a sort of slow, swaying shuffle along with the music just as Jack and Sally swept past them in an impossibly romantic and graceful dance.  Shock imagined that was the way Vasile would have danced with her, but despite all logic she realized that she was happier here, shuffling awkwardly around in little circles with Lock.  It was just more her style, plus there was no way she’d be able to pull off a dance like that anyway, especially in these stupid shoes.  She and Lock had always been on the same level, the same wavelength, and now that he wasn’t making fun of her or the ball anymore she was having more fun than she’d had all night so far.  And besides, what was the point of dancing so gracefully and romantically with someone you didn’t even have romantic feelings for?  She had zero romantic feelings for Vasile so such a dance would have been all for show.  _‘And I definitely don’t have romantic feelings for Lock, so there’s no reason to dance like that with him, either.’_   she tried to convince herself, even as the logical part of her mind pointed out that she was protesting a bit too much.  It was oddly quiet between them and Shock didn’t think Lock had ever gone this long without saying something snarky, and she wondered why he was holding back from doing so now.  Then again, she’d never had so much trouble thinking of anything to say to him either and she tried to chalk it up to her need to concentrate on not tripping in her shoes or getting stepped on by him - and _not_ that she couldn’t stop thinking about how the muscles of his shoulders felt under her hands or the way his own hands seemed to be burning a hole right through her dress.  Then she saw Barrel a little ways away dancing with Lana, a very pretty demon who was a year older than him, so she spoke up:

“Barrel looks like he’s having a good time.  I see he finally pried himself away from the food and found a friend.” she said jokingly and nodded her head towards him.

“More than one friend.” Lock snorted as he turned to look for himself.  “Apparently he’s quite the ladies man all of a sudden.  Who knew chicks liked dumpy little guys with weird feet?”

Shock rolled her eyes at him.  “Well, Barrel is really sweet.  He’s not bad-looking, and on top of that he’s nice and he’s a good listener, girls like that.”  Then she couldn’t help but add: “Qualities _you_ obviously don’t know anything about.” 

“Hey, I’m nice!  And I can listen good, too.” Lock said defensively, and Shock snickered to herself.  Poking holes in his ego was such an easy way to get him riled up. 

“Sure you can, when you want to.  I’m just saying you shouldn’t only rely on your looks, girls like more than just that.”

“Since when am I trying to attract girls?” he sneered, but after a second something seemed to dawn on him and he smiled a little wickedly.  “Wait, so you think that I rely on my looks?  Are you saying I’m good-looking?”  

Crap, she hadn’t even realized she’d said that.  Suddenly she felt like she had _‘you’re super hot’_ tattooed across her forehead and that all of her attempts to puncture his ego were for naught.  Leave it to Lock to find the one unintentional compliment in what was supposed to be a criticism of him.  “Well, you’re not awful-looking…” she stammered a bit, feeling a little caught off guard, but she quickly recovered herself.  “And you look less-ugly than usual tonight, too.” she smirked, repeating his words from earlier and playing with the collar of his shirt a little.  It really was a nice shirt.

“Thanks.” he grinned.  “You’re not awful-looking, either.”  But then he took a deep breath and said, “Actually, you look really pretty.”  She was completely and utterly flabbergasted, and quite against her will she felt herself blush a little harder.  She was extremely good at recognizing when he was lying or poking fun at her, and he was very clearly one hundred percent sincere right now.  Her heart fluttered and she hated to admit to herself that despite all of her friends gushing over how pretty she looked, despite Ethan’s advances and even despite the flattering compliments from Vasile - who was widely regarded as one of the best-looking people in Halloween Town - Lock’s opinion was really the only one that mattered to her.  It was humiliating and stupid, but there it was.  She couldn’t let him know it, though, so she just looked at him and said mockingly:

“Now you’re getting the hang of it.  I was starting to worry that you were too stupid to learn how to not act like an asshole.”  But then she decided she couldn’t let such a compliment slide by without acknowledging it, so she added, “Thanks.”  He just smiled at her and he looked so damn charming that she said _‘Fuck it’_   to herself once again and went ahead and stepped closer to him the way most of the other couples were dancing.  _‘Sorry, Elvisa,’_   she thought, moving her arms around to his back and resting her head against his shoulder.  She could hear his heart beating as quickly as her own was and his body felt warm and strong against her.  He smelled wonderful - a mix of the familiar smell of their shared laundry detergent and his own unique scent that was also familiar to her, but that she’d never smelled so intensely since she usually didn’t have her face pressed against him like this.  He tightened his arms around her a little more and her whole body felt hot and weirdly tingly.  Clearly dancing with him like this had been a huge mistake, but she couldn’t help herself.  It might be the first and last opportunity she ever got to feel him up like this and she wasn’t strong enough in that moment to think the consequences through thoroughly, which was unusual for her.  She was going to have to do some serious damage-control after this was over to make it clear to him - and more importantly to herself - that she was just going along with the crowd and that it didn’t mean anything to be pressed up against him like this, hanging on to him as if her life depended on it.  They were just best friends.  He didn’t like her in any way other than that and she certainly didn’t like him more than that, either.  Sure, he was absurdly attractive, but that was just because he was a devil - they were known for that, after all - and not because there was anything particularly special about him.  He was still a stupid, annoying moron 80% of the time.  But despite these thoughts she involuntarily began tracing little patterns on one of his shoulder blades with the tips of her fingers as she reveled in the feeling of his chest against her breasts and the way their stomachs and thighs occasionally rubbed against one another.  It felt amazing, but she couldn’t fully ignore the negative commentary running through her mind: _’God, this is just pathetic… I obviously need a boyfriend or something because here I am molesting Lock instead.  What is wrong with me?  What is even happening right now?  How did this even happen?  Why is he letting this happen?  Why am I?  Oh yeah, because I am pathetic and desperate, apparently…’_ She was starting to run out of new words to berate herself with when mercifully the song ended and transitioned into another quicker song and they broke apart a bit.  It was time for damage-control and Shock launched into Operation-Platonic-Relationship-Reestablishment.  “Good job, you didn’t stomp on my feet.” she teased him.

“Hey, I’m nothing if not graceful.  Surely girls like that, too.” he said in a light, airy tone and she laughed.  

“Sure they do, Romeo.  C’mon, let’s go get a drink and go outside.  It’s hot in here.”  That was an understatement, she thought ruefully to herself.

“Good call.” he agreed, then weirdly put his hand on her arm as they made their way off of the dance floor and she wondered what he meant by it.  They each filled a glass with hemlock punch, grabbed a few little stuffed roach and spider appetizers and headed outside to sit on the edge of the main square fountain.  Her feet were really killing her now so she took her shoes off the second they sat down and wiggled her now-free toes in relief.  

“Damn, those shoes look crazy.” Lock said, looking at her feet.  “How do you even walk in them?”  He sounded half horrified and half impressed.

“It’s hell, trust me.  I had to practice in my room for days, and I still feel like I’m about to fall over at any second and I can’t feel my little toes.”  She popped a stuffed roach into her mouth.  “But it felt wrong to wear normal shoes with this dress.  The price of looking ladylike or some shit, I guess.” she said with her mouth full.  She was starting to feel like maybe they were back to acting like themselves again and she continued, “I can tell you, though, I am never wearing these things again, not even at my own wedding - assuming that ever even happens.  You guys are lucky, you can look acceptable without all the pain.”

“ _I_ think you look acceptable without wearing all this crap.” he said abruptly, and once again Shock was taken aback.  So much for feeling like they were back to normal.  She couldn’t hold in a small smile at his admission that he thought she wasn’t too bad-looking even when she wasn’t all dolled up, but then she tried once again to get them back into safer conversational territory.  She looked back at the town hall and said:

“You should really stop being a bone-in-the-mud and go dance with some more girls.  Elvisa has a crush on you, you know.”

“Really?”  He sounded completely surprised.  “How do you know?”

“Because she told me herself.  Girls talk about those things to each other, you know…. she was trying to get some inside info and get me to put in a good word for her, since you and I are friends.”

“What did you tell her?”

“I told her you’re a big, immature dumbass, so she should get over you.” she smirked, fully expecting him to protest this assessment of him but he surprised her yet again.

“Good, because I don’t really like ghouls.” he said lightly.  

Interesting.  “Barrel’s a ghoul, you like him.” Shock said, being sure to maintain her amused demeanor.

“Yeah, but I’m not gonna ask Barrel out, am I?”  He gave her a disgusted look and she laughed.  “What about you, do you like ghouls?” he asked as he unfastened the buttons at his wrists and rolled his shirt sleeves up to his elbows.  It made his arms look ridiculously good and she looked away from them and shrugged.

“Sure, why not?  No one in particular though, and I don’t want to ask out Barrel, either, if that’s what you’re getting at…” 

“Nah, just trying to suss out how much of a prejudiced jerk you are.” he smirked.  

“Oh, like you aren’t, Mr. I-Don’t-Like-Ghouls?” she said mockingly, but then decided to expand on her answer.  “I guess I don’t really care for corpses much.  Ethan was trying to hit on me earlier but obviously I turned him down.”  She saw Lock’s expression change and she knew he was thinking about the last time he’d gotten into it with Ethan.  “I like warlocks OK…” she continued, but then Lock interrupted her:

“And vampires.” 

Shock looked at him curiously for a moment.  Superficially he sounded casual, but she knew him well enough to recognize the disgruntlement lurking just beneath the surface.  Was he _still_ hung up on the fact that she’d danced half a song with Vasile?  He wasn’t looking at her as he took a large swig of his punch and dipped the tip of his tail into the fountain basin to splash the bright green water around a little bit, and she decided to try an experiment.  She wasn’t exactly confident in her flirting abilities but she was interested to see how he would react to her attempt.

“Yeah, vampires are alright…” she said, then looked back at the town hall and added, “But I like devils better.”  

He didn’t react right away and she inwardly cringed.  Clearly she had miscalculated, but finally he said in a smug tone of voice, “Well, that just proves that you have excellent taste.  So I guess you aren’t a prejudiced jerk, you’re just smart.” 

Shock snorted.  She was strangely disappointed by his reaction, but grateful at least that it hadn’t been a worse one.  “It’s about time you admitted that,” she said with mock-haughtiness.  “So who _does_ meet your personal standard?  Anyone but ghouls, or are you even more stuck-up than that?”  She stubbornly refused to listen to the tiny, obnoxious part of her brain that was hoping he would say that the only ones who met with his approval were witches - specifically her.

“Hey, you just said you don’t like corpses, so you’re just as stuck-up as I am.” he protested, and she laughed again before swiveling around on the edge of the fountain and hiking her dress up to her shins so she could dip her toes into the water next to his tail.  The cool water felt fantastic on her poor, beleaguered feet.  “Well,” he said, “Obviously I like demons, too, because we’re all sexy,”  Shock rolled her eyes at him.  His ego truly knew no bounds.  “And vampiresses are pretty good, I don’t mind corpses or mer-girls…” he continued, then looked her right in the eye.  “But witches are probably the best.”  

Holy shit, he had actually said part of what she’d been hoping he would say.  Was he flirting back, or just stating a general fact?  Trying to keep cool, she gave him an approving smirk and said, “I guess you aren’t actually as stupid as you seem.  Good choice, if you had said anything else I’d have hexed your tail off right here.”  

Lock quickly removed his tail from the water and coiled it protectively behind him in an exaggerated manner.  “I bet you would, you witches are crazy.” he said in mock fear.

She cackled, “That must be why you like us so much, birds of a feather and all that.”  

“I guess so,” he laughed, and before Shock could think of anything else to say she caught sight of Barrel walking out of town hall and down the steps, holding hands with Azeneth, the mummy girl.

“Oh my god!” Shock hissed excitedly and elbowed Lock hard in the arm.

“Holy shit!  I did not see that coming!” Lock whispered.

“Okay, that is hilarious, but also fucking adorable.” said Shock, then she smiled and waved as Barrel saw them and started walking over.

“Hey guys!” he said happily.

“Hi!” said Azeneth, sounding just as happy.

Barrel tossed his jacket onto the edge of the fountain and started loosening his tie.  “Az and I decided to come outside, it’s hot as hell in there.”  Apparently he felt no need to explain why he had been holding hands with her, nor why he was calling her _‘Az’_.

“Yeah, that’s why we came out here, too.” said Shock.

“Vasile’s been asking where you are.” Barrel said, and Shock wasn’t sure how she felt about that.

“And Elvisa’s been asking about you,” added Azeneth, looking at Lock.  “You should go dance with her, it would make her night.  And probably her whole week.” she giggled.

“Possibly her entire year.” joked Shock, and Barrel laughed.

“Poor Elvisa, I didn’t know she was that dumb.” he grinned.

Lock glared at him.  “Yeah, that’s not happening.” he said in a lofty, snotty voice.  “We devils are devastatingly sexy and I don’t want to break her heart by giving her a taste of what she could never have.” 

Shock snorted loudly.  “Oh, that’s real magnanimous of you, truly you are a giant among demons.” she said sarcastically, but she couldn’t hold back her smile.  Poor Elvisa, indeed.

“Well, since apparently neither of you seem interested in dancing with anyone but each other, how about we go to the east graveyard and vandalize some tombstones or something?” suggested Barrel, and Shock quickly leapt on his suggestion to try and avoid anyone thinking too hard about what he’d just implied.

“Good idea.” she said.  “I want to ritually burn these shoes and that’d be a great place to do it.”  Lock laughed loudly at that and she grinned at him as she picked up her shoes and hopped down off of the fountain edge.

“Are you going to walk all the way to the graveyard barefoot?” he asked, jumping down after her.

“Yeah, I think so.  It’s probably less uncomfortable than wearing these dumb things.  I have crazy blisters already.”  Barrel and Azeneth walked ahead, talking closely together and leaving Lock and Shock to follow along behind them.  It almost felt like a double-date, and she kind of liked it… but she _didn’t_ like the way the ground felt beneath her bare feet and she started to think she was wrong about walking to the cemetery without shoes.  The ground was cold and rough with lots of little pebbles and it seemed highly likely she would end up having to tweeze a bunch of splinters out of her feet later.  

After a few moments Lock said impatiently, “Let me give you a piggyback ride, you’re taking forever.  I want to get to the cemetery sometime before tomorrow.”   

“I’m fine!” she snapped, hating being called out on her dumb decision but right at that moment she stepped on a small, sharp rock and jerked her foot back up.  Lock rolled his eyes.

“The ground is only going to get rougher from here on out.  Either put your damn shoes on or get on my back!” he said irritably.

“Fine!” she practically shouted, conceding defeat.  “Here, hold these.” and she thrust her shoes into his hand and started hiking her skirt up above her knees - there was no other way to get her legs around him while wearing such a long dress and she was glad he was looking the other way because she was afraid she might unintentionally flash her underwear at him.  She gripped both of his shoulders and hopped up onto his back, wrapping her legs around his waist and linking her arms over his shoulders and across his chest.  “Giddyup,” she snickered, and kicked him like he was a horse.  It looked like those terrible shoes were going to do her a favor after all.  He turned his head a bit and even though she couldn’t see it she knew he was giving her a dirty look and she snickered again.  He made an offended sort of noise and then hooked his arms more firmly under her thighs to hold her up and started walking at a quick pace after Barrel and Azeneth, her ridiculous shoes dangling from two of his fingers.  His bare hands and forearms were directly against her bare thighs and having him touch her there was actually starting to turn her on.  His skin was incredibly warm and he was holding her up like she weighed nothing at all.  She held in a little shiver thinking about how strong he was as she pulled herself more tightly against his back and squeezed her legs a little harder around his waist.  He fit perfectly there and her entire body flushed all hot and tingly again.  She wished he would walk slower because she was in no hurry to get to the graveyard if it meant climbing off of him. 

They arrived far too quickly for her liking and found Barrel and Az already scribbling on one of the tombstones with black paint pens.  “Where did you get those?” asked Lock.

Barrel snickered, “I put them in my pockets before we left the house - just in case.” 

“Nice!” said Lock in an approving tone, and Shock agreed with him.  They may be teenagers now, but they were still trick-or-treaters at heart.  Their job had just evolved: now instead of trick-or-treating themselves, they caused property damage, scared younger trick-or-treaters and stole their candy.  It was a pretty good gig.

Much as Shock wanted to just stay attached to Lock all night, she knew she couldn’t.  “Put me down on that headstone over there.” she said in her bossiest voice.  It was always fun ordering him around.  

“Yes, your majesty.” he said sarcastically, and backed up till she could sit down on the headstone.  She kept going back and forth between wanting to try and flirt with him and knowing that she shouldn’t - but in this moment she chose the former and playfully kicked him in the butt with her foot when he stepped away from her.  He immediately wrapped his tail around her ankle and she almost lost her seating - his tail was as ridiculously strong as the rest of him.  

“That’s the thanks I get for acting like your personal pack-mule?  Remind me to let you walk next time and we’ll see if you get home before the next day with your feet intact!”  he grumbled, then he released her ankle and gently swatted her foot with the tip of his tail and dropped her shoes in front of her.  

“Oh please, you loved it.” she teased him.  He scowled at her, then turned to Barrel and asked:

“You got another one of those pens for me?”  

“And me.” added Shock.

“What are _you_ gonna do with it?  You and your delicate feet can’t even get off of that headstone.” sneered Lock.

“I’ll just use it right here, stupid!  Barrel, give me one of those, I want to write _‘Lock is a dumb shit’_ on this headstone.”

“Oh yeah?  Well I’m gonna write _‘Shock is a delicate, weak little princess’_ on this mausoleum over here in foot-tall letters!”

Shock threw one of her shoes at him and he ducked.  “You think I’m delicate and weak?  _You_ try walking in these things!  You wouldn’t last 5 minutes!”

“Do they always fight like this?” Az whispered to Barrel.

“Yup, pretty much.” Barrel answered, finishing up his handiwork on the tombstone with a flourish.  It looked like he had written some very creative expletives and Az had drawn several very lewd pictures to go with them.  Shock was quite impressed by Az’s artistic skills.  Barrel fished another pen out of his pocket and said, “I only brought three, here you go.”  He handed it to Lock and tossed the other one to Shock.

“Thanks.” Lock and Shock said simultaneously, then they both glared at each other.  

“Hey, I thought you said you were gonna burn those shoes.” Barrel said.  

“Oh yeah!  Let’s burn them on top of that tomb over there.” said Shock, and she slid down off of the headstone she was sitting on and picked up her other shoe.

“Need a lift again, your highness?” Lock said mockingly, and Shock turned up her nose at him.

“I think I can handle walking 20 feet, thank you very much.” she said snottily, and made her way carefully to the designated tomb.  Lock picked up the shoe she’d thrown at him and followed her, and Barrel and Az turned around where they were sitting on the ground to watch the show.  They placed the shoes on top of the tomb and Shock turned to Barrel and said, “Did you bring any matches?”  Barrel shook his head, so then she turned to Lock.  “Would you do the honors, then?”

“What would you do without me?” he teased, but snapped his fingers against the ankle-laces and they ignited.  Soon the flames engulfed both shoes entirely and they sent up a rather large cloud of rancid black smoke as they burned.

“Thus do we send you back to the depths from which you came.” Shock said as if she were performing an exorcism, and before long they weren’t much more than a pile of ash and a large scorch mark on top of the tomb.  Then she took her black paint pen and wrote beneath the remains:  _’Here lie Shock’s torture-shoes.  May they burn in hell for all eternity.’_

“Well, that was satisfying.” she said, and Lock grinned at her.

“Hopefully none of us will get cancer now.” said Barrel, waving his hand in front of his nose.  “That smoke was rank.”  Azeneth giggled adoringly at him and Shock was starting to feel a little nauseated by how cute the two of them were.  

They spent the next hour or so talking and laughing and causing as much damage to the cemetery as they could.  Shock and Az continued their graffiti with the pens and Lock and Barrel worked together to push over headstones until several very angry ghosts threatened them and they hurried back to where the girls were.  Then Lock set fire to the herb garden and they all sat down together to watch it burn.

“Does anybody see any sticks?” said Barrel.

“Why?” asked Shock.

“So we can toast these.” he said, and pulled a handful of the roach appetizers from the party out of his pocket.

“Dang, Barrel, what else have you got stuffed in there?” said Lock, and Shock laughed a little.

“Here’s one,” she said, and handed it to Barrel.  “I see a few more over there, too.”  They managed to locate three sticks and a rib bone, and they each skewered some roaches and held them over the fire.  Barrel and Az were holding hands again as they munched on their snacks and Shock found that she wanted to hold hands with Lock, but she was way too afraid.  That would be unquestionably shattering a boundary between them and she wasn’t sure she was ready for that - plus if he rejected her she’d never be able to look him in the face ever again.  So she contented herself with sneaking glances at him, liking the way the flickering firelight illuminated his devilish features and made his yellow eyes glint even more evilly than usual.  Sometimes she caught him looking at her, too, his gaze cycling between her face, neck and even lower and she wondered if he was really looking where she thought he was looking… and she was glad that the darkness hid her blushing.   

When the fire died out, Barrel stood up and Az followed suite.  “Well, I’m beat.” he said.  “I think I ate too much and now I just want to sleep.”

“Sounds about right,” Shock chuckled, shaking her head.  “I’m tired, too.”

“Same here.” said Az.  Shock had no idea what time it was, only that it was very, very late.  Barrel and Az started walking towards the cemetery gate and Lock stood up and stretched, and Shock took the opportunity to check out his backside before she stood up as well.  She shivered a little bit and wrapped her arms around herself.  She had always run a little on the cold side, and on top of that her shoulders, arms and feet were bare and it was starting to get chilly out.  She wished she’d thought to wear a shawl or jacket or something.  She would have asked Barrel for his but he’d already done the gentlemanly thing and draped it around Azeneth’s shoulders.  _‘Though really, how cold could she be under her clothes AND all those bandages?’_   Shock thought somewhat grumpily. 

Then Lock spoke up.  “You want my shirt?  I have a t-shirt on underneath.  If you’re cold or something.  Friends don’t let friends freeze to death.”

Shock was impressed that he’d noticed.  “Taking a page out of Barrel’s book, eh?” she teased him.  “Won’t you be cold?”

“Nah, you know me, I’m too warm all the time.  I felt like taking it off hours ago anyway.  I’ll be fine.” he said carelessly.

“Alright, thanks, Romeo.” she said and he rolled his eyes at her and started unbuttoning his shirt.  He handed it to her after he shrugged out of it and she slipped it on.  It wasn’t as thick as a jacket but it was nice and soft, as well as quite warm from his body heat and she wrapped it tightly around herself.    

“Well, climb aboard, princess.” he teased, and she remembered that she couldn’t even wear her shoes home now if she wanted to.  Apparently he had forgotten his earlier threat to make her walk home.  She smacked him on the arm for calling her a princess, then hiked her dress up above her knees again and hopped onto his back.  He hooked his arms beneath her legs once more and headed off through the gates and towards home.  

Barrel and Azeneth were quite far ahead of them at this point but Lock didn’t seem to be walking as fast as he had been earlier.  He was probably tired, she figured.  Hell, she was exhausted and she hadn’t been pushing over headstones and carrying anyone around half the night.  But she was glad that his slow pace gave her that much more time to feel his back against her and breath in the scent of his hair and the skin behind his ear.  They reached the main square once again and Barrel turned around and called to them, “I’m gonna walk Az to her house, I’ll see you guys at home in a bit!”  

“Okay!  It was fun hanging out with you, Azeneth, see you later!” Shock answered.

“Yeah, bye!” added Lock.

Azeneth waved at them and called, “Goodnight!”  Then she and Barrel turned down a different side road, hand in hand once more.

“How serious do you think they are?” Shock murmured as they turned down their own street.

Lock shrugged.  “How serious can they be? They barely know each other.”

“Well, regardless,” she continued, “I wasn’t expecting that.  It’s cute though, I hope it goes somewhere.  Az is really nice.”

“Yeah, I guess so…” he replied, sounding apathetic.

They finally arrived home and Lock bent down so she could slide more easily off of his back and onto the floor.  “Thanks for the lift, pack-mule.”  Shock decided that might make a good nickname for him from here on out.

“Very funny,” he scoffed.  “You’d better not buy any more shoes like those if you’re as smart as you like to think you are.  I’m not hauling your fat ass around again, no matter what the occasion.”  

“Believe me, that was the first, last and only time I’m wearing anything like those.” she yawned, padding towards the stairs.  “Dibs on the bathroom, I gotta scrub this crud off of my face.”

“No way, that means you’re going to be in there forever.  I’m going first, I just gotta take a leak and brush my teeth, then I’ll be done and you can spend all night in there.”

“Fine, I have to change out of this dress first anyway.” she called from her bedroom door, then closed it behind her.  She took off the dress and draped it carefully across a chair after quickly checking it for any damage.  She’d been trying to be careful - especially when they were messing around in the cemetery - because she didn’t want to ruin Sally’s hard work.  Then she stripped out of her bra and underwear and tossed them on the floor before putting on her comfiest pair of pajamas and heading to the bathroom.  She knocked on the door and said, “You done pissing?”

“Yeah.” she heard Lock mumble, so she went inside and grabbed a washcloth off the shelf before bumping him aside with her hip a little so she could get to the sink.

“Move over, I can’t wait any longer.” she said, then lathered up the washcloth and started wiping the makeup off of her eyelids.  It took some scrubbing but eventually all the black streaks were gone, then she took out her hair ribbon and started brushing out her curls.  She saw Lock watching her in the mirror - it seemed like he’d forgotten he was brushing his teeth for a moment before he snapped out of it and pushed her aside with his hip so he could spit out his toothpaste and rinse his mouth.  Even this domestic routine that was so familiar to them both felt different now, almost like this time after sharing the bathroom they would then also share a bedroom.  She felt a warm flush at that thought but knew it was crazy.  She hadn’t even gotten up the guts to hold his hand, let alone share a bed with him!  She finished brushing her hair as he put his own comb down and was heading to the door, and she had to say _something_ more to him than just _‘goodnight’_ , she just didn’t know what… 

“Well, goodnight.” he said as she was reaching for the toothpaste.

“‘Night,” she answered, still wracking her brain for something clever to say, and he was just about through the door when she decided that honesty was the best policy - at least that’s what Jack had taught them years ago, and sometimes it actually turned out to be right.  “Hey, Lock?”

He popped his head back in the door before she even finished saying his name. “Yeah?”

“I had a lot of fun tonight.” she said, meeting his eyes in the mirror.  Why did saying that simple fact make it sound like it had been a date?  But it really had felt like one, except for the part where they’d started off the evening fighting.  

“Me too.” he answered.  “It sucked way less than I was expecting.”  She laughed a little bit at that and he grinned at her and went back out into the hallway, shutting the bathroom door behind him.  

Shock finished up brushing her teeth, peed, washed her hands and then went back down the hall.  She tried not to think about Lock getting undressed as she passed by his room and she heard the front door open and close - obviously Barrel was home.  As she crawled under her sheets she eyed Lock’s shirt - she had put it on her bed when she’d changed into her pajamas and after only a second she gave in and grabbed it and put it on her pillow next to her face so she could fall asleep with his scent nearby.  _‘This is officially the most pathetic thing I have ever done.’_ she thought miserably to herself, but rolled over onto her side and inhaled deeply anyway.  It had been a confusing night and she was exhausted from overanalyzing every second of her and Lock’s interactions and wondering what tomorrow might bring.  She was so tired that sleep came to her easily, and her last thought was that she couldn’t wait for the next ball.


	4. Barrel

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Barrel is pretty excited about the anniversary ball. He's made his best effort to look good and he plans to make his best effort to have a good time and maybe make some new friends, too.

Barrel looked at himself in the cracked living room mirror and turned around from side to side a few times, making sure that he hadn’t managed to tear or spill anything on his nice new outfit already.  Earlier that week he and Lock had gone to the menswear shop together to find something for Jack and Sally’s 10th anniversary ball since none of their clothes were nearly fancy enough for such a special occasion.  Lock did have one shirt that was pretty nice and that he insisted was good enough, but Barrel didn’t own anything that didn’t have holes or stains.  Since all he needed was pants, Lock had complained the entire time that Barrel was taking too long but Barrel had actually kind of enjoyed himself even though he didn’t know what he was doing.  Jack was the best dresser in all of Halloween Town so Barrel thought that he was a good example to try and follow - but not too closely.  He didn’t think he could pull off a tuxedo with tails the way Jack did, but he had followed Sally’s helpful guidance in choosing some black pants and a matching jacket and tie, as well as a blue-green dress shirt that she said complimented his hair and skin tones.  He wasn’t really sure about what _‘complimenting hair and skin tones’_ was supposed to mean but he trusted her judgement.  He’d skipped the shoes as always - they never fit right and even if they did he would just trip in them anyway.  He was already dressed fancier than he’d ever been dressed in his entire life, so he thought surely it would be good enough.  

“Geez, Barrel, you’re acting like a girl over there, primping in front of the mirror like Miss Halloween Town or something.” Lock grumbled at him.  “And you’re _way_ too stupid-looking for that, so give it up already.  Who cares how you look?”

“I care.” Barrel said.  “Just because _you_ don’t care doesn’t mean nobody else is allowed to.”  Lock scoffed at him, but Barrel just went back to his inspection, checking his teeth for any food remnants.  Honestly, he was getting a little tired of Lock’s attitude.  He’d been complaining about the ball practically nonstop ever since it had been announced, constantly deriding it as _‘just some stupid dance party’_   and making fun of him and Shock for being excited about it.  Barrel thought it sounded pretty fun - he was 16 now after all, so it seemed like an okay time to put on some nice clothes and go dance with some girls - why not?  It’s not like he had better things to do tonight, plus there was sure to be good food there.  He wasn’t sure what exactly Lock’s problem was and why he was fighting the concept of this party so fiercely, but Barrel was determined to have fun no matter how much Lock pouted and sneered at him.  At least Shock was looking forward to it, too, so technically Lock was outnumbered and should keep his big mouth shut and quit raining on everyone’s parade.  He checked his short green hair one more time in the mirror to make sure it was all still in place, then saw Shock’s reflection as she stepped into the room.  “Wow, Shock, you look really nice!  I like your dress!” he exclaimed with a wide grin, turning around to look at her directly.  It was very elegant, just shimmery black with a hint of purple in it and with a low neckline that showed off her neck and shoulders and Barrel thought she looked quite pretty.  The bodice was fitted to her torso and the long skirt puffed out a little bit at where it was attached to the bodice, emphasizing her slender waist.  She wasn’t wearing any jewelry, but she’d curled her hair and was holding some of it back with a satiny black ribbon.

“Thanks!” said Shock, and she gave a little twirl.  “Sally made it for me, I told her I didn’t want anything frilly or too girly.  I think she did a good job, I like how it turned out.  You clean up pretty well, yourself!” she said, and Barrel smiled happily and adjusted his tie. 

“You think so?  I wasn’t sure about the tie, I thought maybe it was a little too much.”

“Nah, you look great.  Very dapper.” she said, and he grinned wider and brushed the front of his jacket off with his hands, trying to rid it of any lingering lint when Lock abruptly spoke up:

“Are you wearing makeup?” he asked, somewhat incredulously.  

“That’s all you have to say?” Shock snapped at him.  Barrel knew immediately that Lock had made a mistake, but Lock cluelessly just kept digging his own grave: 

“Well, are you?  You look different.”  

She frowned.  “Yes, I’m wearing makeup, what’s it to you?  It’s Jack and Sally’s 10th anniversary party, it’s kind of a big deal, idiot.  And of course I look different, I’m wearing a fancy dress.  That’s the whole point.”

“Well, mission accomplished.  You definitely look less-ugly than usual tonight.” Lock smirked, and Barrel knew it was game-over.  Shock wasn’t vain, but he knew that she was looking forward to the ball just as much as himself and Lock teasing her about how she’d dressed up for it wasn’t going to end well for him.  You’d think he’d have learned how to read the room a little better by now.

“Well _you_ could have put a little more effort into not looking like crap for such a big occasion!” Shock said coldly, looking Lock up and down with an icy expression.

“What’s wrong with what I’m wearing?” he said in an offended tone, looking down at his nice, dark red button-up shirt, new black pants and silver-buckled black leather belt.  “I look better than he does,” he gestured to Barrel, “And I don’t need some stupid tie!”

Barrel was completely unfazed by the insult.  Lock very rarely got under his skin anymore, and besides that Shock’s opinion on how he looked for the ball was the only opinion that mattered in this house as far as he was concerned.  Lock was clearly only throwing him under the bus because Shock’s insult had gotten to him, and what did Lock know about looking good, anyway?  Barrel strolled past him towards the door and boasted, “Whatever, I look _dapper_.  Are you guys ready to go?”

“Yes.” said Shock firmly, then she followed him out the door.

“What crawled up your butt and died?” he heard Lock say to Shock once he’d caught up to them, and Barrel decided it would be best for him to stay out of it.  He’d learned over a lifetime of experience that intervening in their frequent fights was rarely helpful.  

“Drop it, asshole.  I’m not going to let you and your bad attitude ruin my night.” she replied.  

“What bad attitude?  You guys are the ones being stupid, getting all excited over some dumb, boring dance party.  I feel like I don’t even _know_ you two!” 

“Well sometimes I wish you didn’t!” she snarled, and that was mean enough that even Lock didn’t have a retort.  Barrel kept his lips tightly closed to keep from smiling.  He always enjoyed it when Shock tore into Lock, especially when he deserved it - and he definitely deserved it this time for being such a big, fat party-pooper, Barrel thought.

“Geez, cranky…” Lock muttered, but Shock ignored him and he fell silent after that.  They arrived shortly to find the town hall lavishly decorated inside and out with lots of tall iron and pewter candelabras on the floor against the sides of the room and garlands made of pumpkin vines, dead flowers and black crepe paper strung with little lights hanging from the ceiling and draped between the wall sconces.  The seats had been removed from the hall except for some chairs along the walls and some tables at the back of the room near the food, so there was plenty of space to dance and socialize.  The band was on the stage playing some background music and a large banner was hanging above them with _“Scary 10th Anniversary To King Jack and Queen Sally”_ written in elegant, scrolling letters.  The hall was already quite full, and everybody looked especially well-dressed and like they were having an excellent time. 

The food table was what really caught Barrel’s attention and he knew that was the first thing that required investigating.  “Oh boy, look at all the food!” he exclaimed and hurried over to check it out, leaving Lock and Shock to sort out their latest argument on their own.  

The food was very fancy and laid out on tarnished silver platters with skull, spider, bat wing and black ribbon centerpieces and it all looked and smelled amazing.  He chose the biggest plate available and selected a portion of everything until there wasn’t a speck of room left on it.  He was just starting to dig in when Lock showed up at his elbow, wearing a sour expression.    

“Where’s Shock?” Barrel asked, then popped a cube of moldy cheese into his mouth.  Delicious.

“Off with her friends or something, I guess.” said Lock in sulky voice.  

“You really pissed her off, eh?” Barrel smirked, cutting off a piece of spider egg garnished seared snake steak with his fork to try next.  It was even better than the cheese.

“I don’t know why she’s being so moody all of a sudden.” Lock complained, loading up a plate for himself.  “She puts on a shiny dress and expects us to treat her like the queen or something.”  

Barrel shrugged and cut off another piece of steak.  “You could have just said she looked nice or something.”  He didn’t consider himself to be a genius or anything, but honestly this particular conflict didn’t seem like it would have been all that hard to avoid.

“Yeah well Jack told us years ago not to lie anymore, remember?” Lock snapped and Barrel was a little surprised by the harshness of his words and tone.  It was mean enough that it sounded more like something Shock would say.  And Lock had the nerve to call _Shock_ moody tonight?  What _was_ his problem, anyway?

“Dang, apparently _you’re_ the one who had something crawl up your butt and die, geez.”  Barrel said, and took a bite of Henbane-crusted rat filet.  Exquisite.

Lock didn’t reply, he just angrily finished filling up his plate and poured himself a glass of hemlock punch, then they went over to lean against a wall and eat.  After a few minutes the band finished up their song and the Mayor took the stage, an enormous grin plastered across the active side of his head.  Barrel was struck with the urge to throw a deviled raven egg at the Mayors face, but he didn’t want to waste it.  It was just too delicious.

“Attention, everyone!” the Mayor shouted, illuminated by the spotlight and holding up his hands until the crowd went silent and turned to face the stage.  “Tonight we celebrate the anniversary of our beloved Pumpkin King and Queen, under whose glorious leadership our town of Halloween continues to thrive year after year, constantly reaching frightful new heights of terror and ghoulish delight.  It is my very great pleasure and honor to introduce the doll and skeleton of the hour, Jack and Sally Skellington!”  Everyone burst into cheers and applause as Jack strode onstage, waving to the crowd with one hand and holding Sally’s with his other as she walked somewhat reluctantly behind him.  Even after all this time, Sally never seemed to have become fully comfortable with the adulation that came along with being the Pumpkin Queen, remaining almost as shy and unassuming as she ever was, though she did make a great effort to live up to the position and meet and exceed all of the expectations and responsibilities that came with it.  But ever since she and Jack had gotten together he had become even more energized and came up with even more inspired ideas for each Halloween, and the townsfolk loved her.  Even Dr. Finkelstein had gotten over his past bitterness and now took great pride in constantly reminding everyone that he was the one who had created their queen.  

“Thank you, friends!” said Jack, taking center stage and looking out at the adoring crowd with a wide, bony grin.  “Thank you very much!  I won’t delay the festivities with a long speech, but let me say only this: I am truly the happiest and most fortunate skeleton who ever died, thanks to my companion, my love, my dearest friend, Sally.”  Everyone whooped and clapped again for a few moments and Sally went slightly pink and smiled shyly at everyone in the audience before Jack smiled and raised one elegant hand to quiet them.  “She keeps my skull on my shoulders and my heart in the clouds and without her support, patience and love, I truly don’t know where I would be today.”

“Probably in Christmas Town!” someone called from the crowd, and everyone laughed good-naturedly, including Jack himself before he continued:  

“Here’s to many more celebrations just like this one, for many, many more years to come.  Thank you all for celebrating this happy occasion with us tonight, and have a wonderful evening!”  Everyone erupted into cheers and applause once again as Jack leaned down to give Sally a kiss and the band began to play a lively song for dancing - well, as lively as it got in Halloween Town, at least.  Anyone who didn’t know better might wonder why Jack hadn’t given Sally a chance to speak, but everyone knew how much she hated public speaking so for him to take charge on stage was doing her a kindness.  They walked down the stage stairs together and began the first dance, Jack’s elegance of movement clearly able to compensate for Sally’s somewhat unsteady bearing.  After they’d twirled around the dance floor several times, other couples joined in and the room was once again filled with laughter and happy conversation.  

“Watch my food, I gotta go to the bathroom.” said Barrel, setting his now mostly-empty plate down on a nearby chair.  He’d chugged a bit too much punch already, it seemed.  

“Thanks for sharing!” Lock called after him snarkily as he headed towards the restroom, but Barrel just ignored him.  There was a bit of a line, but after he was finally finished and about to head back to where Lock was standing he saw Shock and her friends at a nearby table, and Ethan working his way over to them.  Barrel knew how much Shock hated Ethan and as she caught sight of the corpse kid her expression changed from one of enjoyment to one of loathing so he decided to see if she needed any back-up.  Lock was usually the one who did any required ass-kicking since Barrel wasn’t as inclined towards violence and Lock was just a better fighter than he was, but he didn’t want Ethan to ruin Shock’s night if he could help it.  Plus he wasn’t exactly eager to get back to Lock and his foul mood, so he hurried over to them and stood right next to Shock.

“Hello!” he said cheerfully, and the girls all returned his greeting.  “Having a good time?  This food is awesome, isn’t it?”  He was pleased to see out of the corner of his eye that Ethan had stepped away and back into the crowd.  Barrel knew Ethan wasn’t afraid of him, but he probably assumed that since he had shown up that Lock wouldn’t be far behind, and everyone knew that Lock would have no qualms about punching someone in the face even in the middle of a party.

Shock laughed at him, but he saw the gratitude in her expression.  “Everything tastes awesome to you, especially since you basically live off of cereal and candy!”  

“That’s true,” he admitted with a completely unselfconscious grin.  “Does anybody want to dance?”  He’d had enough to eat for the moment and now that it seemed like Shock was safe from Ethan - at least temporarily - dancing sounded like a fun thing to try.

“I would!” said a shy voice from just behind him and he turned around to find Azeneth looking at him.  She was a mummy who was Shock’s age, and Barrel had always thought she was pretty cute.  She also always seemed pretty nice although she’d never really said very much to him before, so he was a little bit surprised that she’d approached him.    

“Great!” he said, and he held out his hand to her.  She took it and they walked to the dance floor together, picked a spot, and started dancing.  “Thanks for dancing with me!” he said happily.  “Sorry I’m awful at this.  I’ve never really danced before and I’m kind of klutzy anyway.”  He felt a little bit self conscious about it, especially since he thought that she was moving very gracefully indeed, her swaying motions making her long, flowing dress ripple gently.  He really didn’t want to accidentally step on her feet or her dress.

“Thank you for dancing with _me_.” she said, and he could see her smile from the way the thin bandages over her face moved.  “And I think you’re dancing just fine.”

“I’m not sure I believe you about that, but thanks!” he grinned broadly, and she laughed a little.  She was a bit taller than him and much more slender and he was fascinated by her tightly-wrapped bandages - he’d never really gotten this close up to a mummy before.  There were drawings on some of the bandages that sort of had the appearance of tattoos and he wanted to see them more closely but was afraid that staring might be rude.

“I like your dress.” he said, “And your bandages.  What are they made of?”  

“I’m not sure what the dress is made out of, Sally made it for me, but my wrappings are linen with some resin in it.”

Interesting.  He made a mental note to look up what exactly _‘resin’_ was later then said, “Yeah, Sally helped me out, too.  Me and Lock went to buy stuff together, but neither of us know anything about dressing well so we would have been lost without her.”

“Well she did a good job.  I think you look nice.  Very dapper.”

“Hey, that’s just what Shock told me, so it must be official now!” he grinned, deciding that he wouldn’t mind dressing up fancy more often now that it seemed he was indeed able to pull it off.  She laughed again and they made small talk as they danced.  She was a little shy, but friendly and easy to talk with and Barrel was enjoying himself immensely, forgetting entirely how bad he probably was at dancing.  She didn’t seem to care, so why should he?  The song came to an end sooner than he would have liked and he hoped that Azeneth had enjoyed their dance as much as he did.  He actually wanted to keep dancing with her but he didn’t want to seem too pushy, plus she might want to dance with other people.  “That was really fun!” he said, and he meant it.  “I think I want to get some more to eat.  Do you want to hang out again later?”

“Yeah, I would.” she said shyly, and he escorted her back off of the dance floor.  

“Well, see you later!” he said, and she gave him a little wave as she went to go talk to a few of her friends.  He strolled back over to the food table and loaded up a second plate, though not quite as full as his first one, and looked out at all the dancing couples as he ate.  Jack and Sally were dancing quite impressively and he watched them for a moment, wondering what it must be like to have such long legs and small feet as the two of them did.  Then he saw Lock and Shock slow dancing awkwardly together - apparently they had made up after their earlier fight - and he couldn’t help but grin.  _‘I knew it.’_   he thought to himself, and he couldn’t wait to find some way to poke fun at them for it later.  Barrel was quite observant and he had been starting to suspect that there was a little bit more than just friendship starting to go on between his two best friends - especially considering what he was witnessing right now - so he’d been thinking that it might be wise to make a little more effort at making some new friends for himself, and perhaps even someone more special than that.  It was part of the reason he was so looking forward to this party.  His food was gone before he knew it and then he decided that he might like to try slow dancing, too, so he looked around for a partner.  He didn’t see Azeneth anywhere but he did spot Lana standing around the punch bowl, looking a little forlorn.  She was a year older than him and extremely pretty - most demons were - and he wondered why she wasn’t dancing with anyone.  He thought she might be a little bit out of his league, but he figured nothing ventured, nothing gained, so he walked over to her.

“Hi there.  Would you like to dance with me?”

She looked a little surprised, but then smiled down at him and said, “Sure!”  They went to the dance floor and Barrel put his hands on her waist as she put hers on his shoulders.  Once again he was concerned about stepping on her feet with his own rather large, ungainly ones, but she seemed to know what she was doing and guided him into simply swaying together in time with the music and thereby eliminating the risk of him stomping on her, so he relaxed a bit.

“I have to tell you,” he said, “I’m surprised you weren’t dancing with anyone.  You look really beautiful.”

“Thanks, you’re really sweet.” she said, sounding a little surprised again.  “I think sometimes people don’t want to dance with me because they think I’m stuck up or something.”

Barrel was puzzled.  “Why would they think that?  You seem nice to me.” 

“Well,”  She seemed a little hesitant to answer.  “I think it might be because I’m really pretty, and they think that maybe _I_ think I’m too good for them or something.  So they usually just don’t ask me out because they’re afraid I’m going to say no.”

Considering that he himself had just been thinking that she was out of his league and would probably say no to him, he had to agree that feeling a little nervous to approach her made sense.  But actually being _afraid_ to ask her and therefore not even trying seemed like an excessive reaction to him.  You couldn’t survive long around Oogie Boogie without being brave and you couldn’t handle living with Lock and Shock if you weren’t tough, so something as simple as asking a beautiful girl to dance and possibly getting turned down seemed like a pretty silly thing to worry about to him.  “Huh…” he said.  “People are weird.”

She laughed a little.  “I agree.”  Then she pulled him closer to her so he could rest his head on her shoulder.  He thought she was nice, and she was pleasant to dance with.  She smelled good and he was enjoying himself but he didn’t really know what to say to her, unlike with Azeneth, with whom he’d had a very nice conversation.  He looked forward to talking with Azeneth some more, but in the meantime he was quite happy to dance with Lana and he closed his eyes contentedly and just enjoyed the moment.  After a little bit he opened his eyes again and saw Lock looking right at him.  He looked extremely uncomfortable, but Barrel knew him well enough to recognize that it was nervousness rather than embarrassment or disgust that was making him look that way.  In fact, he almost looked like he was panicking and Barrel could only imagine it was because Shock was pressed up very close to him with her head against his shoulder and her arms wrapped tightly around his back, so he grinned widely and gave Lock an encouraging thumbs-up.  Lock only frowned at him, so Barrel just shrugged as much as he could and closed his eyes again.  If Lock wanted to be an uptight bone-in-the-mud that was his problem, not Barrel’s.  The song came to an end shortly after that and he and Lana broke apart.  “That was nice, thank you for asking me.” she said sweetly.

“You’re welcome.  Thanks for saying yes!  See you later, maybe.” he said, even though he knew that was highly unlikely.  Still, it seemed like the polite way to say goodbye.  He went back over to the punch bowl to get another glass just as he saw Lock and Shock leave it and head for the exit, but he decided to let them have some alone time for now, especially since Lock was still holding on to Shock’s arm.  He snickered quietly to himself, then looked around and spotted Azeneth sitting on a chair a little ways away.  She was chatting with the cyclops Gisel and there was a free chair on her other side so he decided to join them, but before he got even halfway there he was stopped by a tapping on his shoulder and a deep, heavily accented voice spoke to him:

“Excuse me, sir, but I believe that you are a friend of Shock’s, yes?”  It was Vasile, a vampire who had to be at least 5 years older than him and who’d never spoken to Barrel before in his life.  

“Uh, yeah.”

“Do you happen to know where I might find her?  She graced me with a dance earlier this evening and I am most desperate to repeat the pleasure.”  

Barrel couldn’t help but make a slight face at Vasile’s flowery words.  He had no idea he was acquainted with Shock, and it was hard for him to imagine the two of them having much in common.  And after the way she and Lock had been dancing tonight it was also hard for him to imagine that Lock would stand by passively while this stupid vampire made a move on her and Barrel wondered if he’d missed a good fight earlier… though he supposed that if Lock had actually punched Vasile then surely the entire room would have noticed and he wouldn’t be asking after Shock now.  Vasile was pretty tall and Barrel wondered if Lock could take him… that was a fight he would definitely want to watch, and possibly place a bet on.  Then he realized he hadn’t answered the question so he said:

“No, I haven’t seen her for awhile.  I have no idea where she is.  Maybe in the bathroom or something.” he lied.  _‘She’s probably off making out with Lock somewhere,’_ he snickered to himself.

“Ah.  Well, if by chance you should happen to see her, please, would you be so kind as to tell her I yearn for her company once more?”  

“Sure.” said Barrel, though he really didn’t have any intention of doing that, and he turned away from Vasile and continued over to where Azeneth and Gisel were fortunately still sitting and talking.

“Hi again!” he said, “Mind if I sit down?”

Azeneth patted the seat next to her and said, “Of course not, please do!”  

Gisel smiled a bit slyly, then said, “I’m gonna go talk to Beldamine for a bit.  You two have fun.” and she stood up and walked away.  Azeneth fidgeted with her glass of punch for a moment, but Barrel was secretly glad to have the chance to talk to her one-on-one again.

“Are you having a nice time?” he asked.  

“Yeah, I am.  The food’s pretty terrific and it’s fun to see everyone dressed up so fancy.  I helped make the decorations so it’s really satisfying to see them in place and I’ve heard people saying they like them, so that’s nice.”

“Oh wow, you made those?”  He was impressed.  

“Well, I didn’t make them all by myself, there were several of us on the planning committee.  But it was a fun project, I like art.”

“They’re really great, you should be proud.”  He realized he had the opportunity to ask her about the symbols on her wrappings that he was so curious about.  “Did you do the drawings on your arms and chest and stuff, too?”  Then he felt a little embarrassed that he’d pointed out that he’d been looking just above the neckline of her dress, but the drawings _were_ pretty obvious there so hopefully she wouldn’t be offended.

“Yeah, I did.” she said a little shyly, as if she wasn’t sure what he thought of them.  

“I like them a lot, they’re really cool looking.  What are they?”

She seemed to relax a little and said, “They’re hieroglyphs, little symbols like writing.  These ones spell out an old curse, it’s meant to be scary and mysterious.”

“They definitely are.” said Barrel, looking closer at them as she held her arms out for him to inspect.  He thought they were some of the most interesting things he’d ever seen.

“How about you, are you having fun?” she asked.

“Yeah, I am.  I just danced with Lana and that was nice.  But I like talking to you better.” he said honestly, hoping it wasn’t too forward of him, and he felt a little bit shy himself.

“Thanks, I like talking to you, too.” she said softly, looking quite shy even through her linen wrappings.     

“So, what do you mummies do for Halloween?” he asked, pleased with her response.  Tonight was going even better than he had hoped it would.

“Well, I’ve been told that we make people think of and fear ancient curses, remind them of their own mortality and frighten them with the idea of malevolent, reanimated, desiccated corpses, things like that… but mostly we just lurk around and look creepy.  I don’t think I’m very good at it.”  Barrel could relate to the feeling of worrying about not being the scariest in a group.  He often felt that Lock and Shock overshadowed him in the scary department, so he could definitely understand Azeneth’s insecurities. 

“Really?  I think you look super creepy!” he said, and she ducked her head bashfully.  “I bet you scare the crap out of everybody just as much as any of the other mummies.”  

“Thanks, you’re really sweet.” she said.  “What do you and your two friends do for Halloween?”

“We’re basically still trick-or-treaters, but now that we’re older we just scare the little trick-or-treaters and steal their candy, then we try to mess stuff up.  You know, cars, houses, jack-o-lanterns, mailboxes, whatever.  Just generally try to be a nuisance and make people afraid of out-of-control youth running wild in the streets or something like that.  It’s a pretty good gig.”

“It sounds like fun!”

“Yeah, it is.  I know it makes some people annoyed at us or hate us or whatever, but it’s our job.  Someone’s gotta do it.”  

“That’s true.” she nodded.  “It’s a very important one, too.  Everybody has a job to do.”

“That sounded like a poem.” he chuckled, then he had a sudden burst of inspiration.  “Hey, do you want to come cause some trouble with me?  Maybe we can find Lock and Shock and go mess up the Mayor’s house or a graveyard or something.”

She giggled a little bit then looked around as if to make sure nobody overheard.  “I don’t know if I should….”

“It’ll be fine, really!  I’ll just say you’re with me and if we get in trouble we’ll just blame it on Lock and Shock.  It’s what we always do.”  

She laughed.  “Alright, that sounds fun!”

“Great!” he smiled, standing up.  He grabbed a few roach appetizers from the nearby table and put them in his pocket for later - you never knew when you might be in the mood for a snack.  “Plus I don’t know about you, but it’s super hot in here, I’m dying.”  

“The heat doesn’t bother me, but it would be nice to get some air.  And I don’t want you dying on me.” she smiled and stood up as well.

Barrel decided to take a chance and extended his hand to her.  She smiled again and accepted it, then they headed for the exit, Barrel feeling so happy that he practically wanted to skip out the door.

“You know, I’ve seen you around a lot, but I’ve always been too nervous to say hi to you.” she said, “But I’m glad I finally did, you’re really nice.”

“I’m glad you did, too.” he smiled, and decided that he liked her quite a lot.  He loved Lock and Shock but they could get kind of intense sometimes, and it was nice to spend some time with someone a little bit more mellow like he was.  

“You can call me _‘Az’_ , if you want to…” she said.

“Okay.  I don’t really have a nickname.  There’s really no good way to shorten _‘Barrel’_ and Lock and Shock just call me _‘dumbass’_ , and I think I’d rather not have you call me that, too.” he said with a big smile and she laughed loudly, louder than she’d laughed so far that night.  She was obviously starting to really relax and he was glad.  They headed down the town hall steps and right away he spotted Lock and Shock sitting together on the edge of the main square fountain.  “Hey guys!” he said happily, and they headed over towards them.

“Hi!” Azeneth said to Lock and Shock, sounding just as happy.

They finally let go of one another’s hands and Barrel took off his jacket and tossed it onto the edge of the fountain, then started loosening his tie.  “Az and I decided to come outside, it’s hot as hell in there.”

“Yeah, that’s why we came out here, too.” said Shock.

“Vasile’s been asking where you are.” Barrel said, and he saw Lock scowl and Shock make a sort of uncomfortable grimace.  

“And Elvisa’s been asking about you,” added Azeneth, looking at Lock.  “You should go dance with her, it would make her night.  And probably her whole week.” she giggled.

“Possibly her entire year.” joked Shock, and Barrel laughed.

“Poor Elvisa, I didn’t know she was that dumb.” he grinned.

Lock glared at him.  “Yeah, that’s not happening.” he said in a lofty, snotty voice.  “We devils are devastatingly sexy and I don’t want to break her heart by giving her a taste of what she could never have.” 

Shock snorted loudly.  “Oh, that’s real magnanimous of you, truly you are a giant among demons.” she said sarcastically.

“Well, since apparently neither of you seem interested in dancing with anyone but each other, how about we go to the east graveyard and vandalize some tombstones or something?” suggested Barrel in a sly voice and he smiled teasingly.  Lock shot him a dirty look and seemed to get a bit pink in the face, and Barrel was highly, _highly_ amused.  Evidence supporting his theory that the two of them were getting a little extra-cozy was quickly mounting.  

“Good idea.” said Shock.  “I want to ritually burn these shoes and that’d be a great place to do it.”  Lock laughed loudly as she picked up her shoes and hopped down off of the fountain edge.

“Are you going to walk all the way to the graveyard barefoot?” Lock asked, jumping down after her.

“Yeah, I think so.  It’s probably less uncomfortable than wearing these dumb things.  I have crazy blisters already.”  She began carefully picking her way across the cobblestones and Barrel and Azeneth walked on ahead because it looked like it was going to take Shock a while to get there at that pace.  Barrel thought that her trying to make it to the graveyard barefoot was probably a mistake, but he wasn’t going to tell her that because he didn’t feel like getting chewed out in front of his new friend.  He could handle it because his feet were extremely tough having walked barefoot all his life in all kinds of terrain, but Lock and Shock usually wore shoes outside.  It didn’t take long for his instinct to prove correct, because soon he heard Lock’s impatient voice:

“Let me give you a piggyback ride, you’re taking forever.  I want to get to the cemetery sometime before tomorrow.” 

“I’m fine!” Shock snapped at him.

“The ground is only going to get rougher from here on out.  Either put your damn shoes on or get on my back!” Lock said irritably.

“Fine!” she practically shouted, “Here, hold these.” 

Barrel and Az exchanged glances and she looked a little nervous but Barrel just shook his head and smiled reassuringly at her.  If she was going to start hanging out with them - and he hoped that she was - she was going to have to get used to Lock and Shock’s near-constant bickering.  

“So… are they like, _together_?” she asked.

“No, but it looks like they’re working on it, if you ask me.” he said.  “And if that happens I’ll probably have to move out.  They’re hard enough to live with, I can’t imagine trying to do it with them making out all the time.”  She gave him another concerned look, but he nudged her gently with his shoulder.  “I’m only joking.  They’re my best friends, I love living with them, they’re great.  Even if they do start making out eventually.”  

“And even when they call you _‘dumbass’_?”

“Yeah, well, they’re not wrong half the time.” he grinned, and that coaxed a smile out of her.

They continued down the path, chatting about this and that until they reached the cemetery.  They pushed the rusty old gate open and headed towards the middle where they were less likely to be seen by passersby - an essential strategy when committing vandalism.   

“So now what do we do?” she asked, and Barrel grinned wickedly at her and pulled two black paint pens out of his pocket.  He had packed them earlier because very rarely did the three of them leave the house without causing some sort of trouble, and these were easy, lightweight, portable tools for doing so.  

“Well, to start with, we can use these to desecrate a few graves.  You said you like drawing, right?  So why don’t you draw something terrible on this headstone here?”  He knelt in front of one and she came over to kneel beside him and took the pen he offered her.  He noticed that she pulled up her dress just enough so it didn’t touch the ground, but that she didn’t hesitate to kneel with her wrapped legs on the dirt.  He was glad that she apparently wasn’t afraid to get dirty - anyone who was too fussy about that sort of thing probably wasn’t a good match for him. 

“I have no idea what to draw.” she said blankly.

“You have to draw something naughty, something bad that’s gonna bother people and that they’re going to want to scrub off right away.  That’s the whole point.” he grinned, and started writing a string of highly offensives curses.  Az snickered a little and started drawing, and once Barrel figured out what exactly she was drawing he blushed a little bit.  He wouldn’t have guessed such an image could come from such a sweet person but it only made him like her more and he could tell she was going to get the hang of this kind of mischief-making quickly.  

“Where did you get those?” came Lock’s voice from behind them.  He and Shock had finally caught up and Barrel and Az turned around to look at them - Lock was standing there with Shock clinging to his back.  

Barrel snickered, for more than one reason.  “I put them in my pockets before we left the house - just in case.” 

“Nice!” said Lock, sounding impressed.  

“Put me down on that headstone over there.” Shock said in a very bossy voice.

“Yes, your majesty.” Lock said sarcastically, and backed up till she could sit down on it.  She playfully kicked him in the butt with her foot when he stepped away from her and he immediately wrapped his tail around her ankle and it looked like Shock just about fell off of the headstone.  Barrel and Az just sat there on the ground watching the show as Lock grumbled, “That’s the thanks I get for acting like your personal pack-mule?  Remind me to let you walk next time and we’ll see if you get home before the next day with your feet intact!”  He released her ankle and gently swatted her foot with the tip of his tail and dropped her shoes in front of her.

“Oh please, you loved it.” Shock teased him, and Lock turned away from her to look at Barrel with a grumpy expression on his face.  

“You got another one of those pens for me?” he asked.  

“And me.” added Shock.

“What are _you_ gonna do with it?  You and your delicate feet can’t even get off of that headstone.” sneered Lock.

“I’ll just use it right here, stupid!  Barrel, give me one of those, I want to write _‘Lock is a dumb shit’_ on this headstone.”

“Oh yeah?  Well I’m gonna write _‘Shock is a delicate, weak little princess’_ on this mausoleum over here in foot-tall letters!”

Shock threw one of her shoes at him and he ducked.  “You think I’m delicate and weak?  _You_ try walking in these things!  You wouldn’t last 5 minutes!”

“Do they always fight like this?” Az whispered to Barrel.

“Yup, pretty much.” Barrel answered, finishing up his handiwork on the tombstone with a flourish before fishing another pen out of his pocket.  “I only brought three, here you go.”  He handed it to Lock and tossed the other one to Shock.  

“Thanks.” Lock and Shock said simultaneously, then they both glared at each other.  

“Hey, I thought you said you were gonna burn those shoes.” Barrel said.

“Oh yeah!  Let’s burn them on top of that tomb over there.” said Shock, and she slid down off of the headstone she was sitting on and picked up her other shoe.

“Need a lift again, your highness?” Lock said mockingly, and Shock turned up her nose at him.

“I think I can handle walking 20 feet, thank you very much.” she said snottily, and made her way carefully to the designated tomb.  Lock picked up the shoe she’d thrown at him and followed her.  

Azeneth was watching them in fascination.  “They fight like this all the time and you still think they’re gonna start making out eventually?” she whispered as quietly as she could.

“Definitely.” confirmed Barrel, and they both giggled a little bit and turned around where they were sitting to watch Lock and Shock place the shoes on top of the tomb.

Shock turned to Barrel and said, “Did you bring any matches?”  Barrel shook his head.  It was a little bit pointless to waste valuable pocket space on matches when Lock was around.  Then she turned to Lock.  “Would you do the honors, then?”

“What would you do without me?” he teased, but snapped his fingers against the ankle-laces and they ignited.  Soon the flames engulfed both shoes entirely and they sent up a rather large cloud of rancid black smoke as they burned.

“Thus do we send you back to the depths from which you came.” Shock said as if she were performing an exorcism, and before long they weren’t much more than a pile of ash and a large scorch mark on top of the tomb.  Then she took her black paint pen and wrote something beneath the remains, but Barrel couldn’t see what it was.  “Well, that was satisfying.” she said when she was finished, and Lock grinned at her.   

“Hopefully none of us will get cancer now.” said Barrel, waving his hand in front of his nose.  “That smoke was rank.”  Azeneth giggled at him and he smiled.  The fact that she seemed to think he was funny made him very, very happy.  

They spent the next hour or so talking and laughing and causing as much damage to the cemetery as they could.  Shock and Az continued their graffiti with the pens and Lock and Barrel worked together to push over headstones until several very angry ghosts threatened them and they hurried back to where the girls were.  Then Lock set fire to the herb garden and they all sat down together to watch it burn.

“Does anybody see any sticks?” said Barrel.

“Why?” asked Shock.

“So we can toast these.” he said, and pulled the handful of the roach appetizers that he’d swiped from the party out of his pocket.

“Dang, Barrel, what else have you got stuffed in there?” said Lock, and Shock laughed a little.

“Here’s one,” Shock said, and handed it to Barrel.  “I see a few more over there, too.”  

They managed to locate three sticks and a rib bone, then Barrel handed out the roaches and they each skewered some and held them over the fire.  Barrel offered his hand to Az again and she accepted it, and they sat happily together, munching on their snacks and just watching the fire.  Even Lock and Shock were quiet and everything felt relaxed and peaceful and perfect.  He liked the way her linen-wrapped fingers felt against his own - they were warm, dry and slender, and the texture of the fabric was unique.  They would meet one another’s eyes and smile from time to time and the firelight glowed prettily on her pale wrappings, making her look spooky and mysterious.  Her eyes were dark and the firelight made them shine in a very haunting kind of way - she definitely didn’t need to worry about not being scary enough, Barrel thought.  After awhile he started to get tired and despite how much fun he was having and how lovely the evening had been, sleep was sounding extremely appealing.  He wasn’t sure exactly what time it was, only that it was super late and he probably could have just laid down right there in the cemetery and taken a nap, but knowing his luck he would sleep till morning and get caught out there by someone and blamed for all the vandalism himself.  So when the fire died out he stood up and Az followed suite.  “Well, I’m beat.” he said.  “I think I ate too much and now I just want to sleep.”

“Sounds about right,” Shock chuckled, shaking her head.  “I’m tired, too.”

“Same here.” said Az.  Barrel saw that she was shivering a little and had her thin, diaphanous shawl wrapped tightly around her.  He remembered what she had said about the heat not bothering her, but it seemed that the same could not be said for the cold.  Barrel thought it felt quite pleasant out so she definitely needed his jacket more than he did.  He wasn’t even wearing it, he had taken it off when he and Lock were pushing over headstones because it restricted his movement a bit. 

“Do you want my jacket?” he asked.  “You look cold and I feel fine, I don’t need it.”  

“Yes, please.” she said, and he draped it around her shoulders, feeling quite gentlemanly in addition to dapper.  “Thank you.” she added, giving him a very sweet smile and pulling it a little tighter around herself as they headed back through the cemetery gates.  He heard Lock and Shock talking behind them, something about friends not letting friends freeze to death and climbing aboard, and it even sounded like Shock called Lock _‘Romeo’_.  He snickered to himself - this had been a very interesting night indeed, and he wondered if Lock was still feeling as hostile towards the ball as he had been before.  

It was a pleasant walk back to town now that Azeneth had stopped shivering.  They were mostly quiet, listening to occasional call of the vultures and ravens, the creaking of the dead branches overhead, and watching the bats fly across the big, full moon.  He didn’t consider himself an expert in the subject, but he thought the atmosphere was quite romantic.  Either Lock and Shock had stopped talking or else they were just so far behind that Barrel couldn’t hear them anymore - either way was fine with him.  After a time they reached the main square again and it looked like the party was mostly broken up, with the lights in the town hall dimmed, very few people hanging around the steps and fountain and several people walking towards their homes.  Barrel decided to take another chance and asked, “Is it okay if I walk you home?”  Despite his exhaustion he didn’t want to say goodnight to her until the very last moment possible.

“I’d like that.” she replied.  Barrel turned to let Lock and Shock know - they were quite a ways behind them but they were visible and within shouting distance, so he called out somewhat loudly, “I’m gonna walk Az to her house, I’ll see you guys at home in a bit!”  

“Okay!  It was fun hanging out with you, Azeneth, see you later!” Shock answered from atop Lock’s back.

“Yeah, bye!” added Lock.

Azeneth waved at them and called, “Goodnight!”  Then she and Barrel turned down a different side road.  “I like your friends, they’re pretty funny.  A little bit crazy, though…” she looked at him as if she worried she might have offended him.

“Oh yeah, they’re totally crazy.” he smiled and said casually.  “But I agree, they’re a lot of fun.  I’m glad you like them.  I can tell that they like you, too, they were really nice to you.”  Suddenly he realized that he was leading the way but didn’t even know where she lived.  “Uh, where _is_ your house, anyway?”  

She laughed a bit and took hold of his hand once more to guide him.  “This way.”

It was only a few more streets further and in far too little time they stopped in front of what was apparently her house.  She walked up to the steps and turned around to face him, then took off his jacket and handed it back to him.  “I had a really nice night.” she said, a little bit shy again.

“Me too.  Let’s hang out again soon, if you want to.  There’s a lot more trouble we can cause and maybe you can teach me about mummy curses and stuff.”

“Definitely.” she smiled, and he grinned widely, already looking forward to whenever that would be.  Then she opened her arms in an invitation for a hug and he felt little moths fluttering around in his stomach as he stepped forward and embraced her.  She smelled nice, kind of sweet, like linen and what he could only imagine must be resin, which he supposed made sense.  She also smelled a little bit like a desert - if a desert could have a smell - and he didn’t really know how to describe it, he only knew that he liked it.  They broke apart and his face was a little warm in addition to the moths going crazy in his stomach.  “Goodnight.” she said.

“Goodnight!”  He took a step back and gave her a little wave as she walked up the steps and opened her door, and she gave him one last look and a little wave before she closed it.  He stood there for just a moment before turning around and heading towards home, feeling happy and warm despite the cool night air.  He walked quickly - now that Azeneth wasn’t with him anymore he had no need to take his time.  He just wanted to get home and get into bed and hopefully have nice dreams about all the time they might spend together in the future.  He wondered vaguely about what was going on with Lock and Shock, but he figured he would find out soon enough so his thoughts primarily stayed on reliving the evening - the food, the dancing, the music, and the new friend he’d made.  He arrived home within a few minutes and opened the door to find the living room empty and no noise from upstairs.  Apparently Lock and Shock were as tired as he was because it seemed like they were in bed already.  He walked quietly up the stairs, made a quick stop in the bathroom to brush his teeth and pee, then headed to his room to change into his pajamas.  He placed his fancy clothes carefully on the back of his chair - he wanted to take good care of them because he definitely planned on wearing them some more - and then crawled into bed, unable to remember when he’d had a more enjoyable night.  He feel asleep almost instantly with a smile on his face, looking forward to tomorrow and whatever it might bring and planning to start a countdown until the next anniversary ball.


End file.
